


The Black Devil

by AntlersandFangs, Celtic_Lass



Series: Legacy of Protection [2]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, tolkie
Genre: AU territory, Arranged Marriage sort of, Cultural Differences, Extremely and Unapologeticly Self-Indulgent, F/M, Family Fluff, Happy Ending, Light dom/sub undertones, Slow Burn, We started this and now we can’t stop, but not from the pairings, domestic abuse, language barriers, middle earth character in earth, there be smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:20:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 41,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22167019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntlersandFangs/pseuds/AntlersandFangs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celtic_Lass/pseuds/Celtic_Lass
Summary: The misadventures of Glorfindel's sonotherwise known as: Mom, don't be angry, but I sort of bought a wife and she's terrified of meCan be read as a stand-alone but makes more sense if you read Protection :)
Relationships: Glorfindel (Tolkien)/Original Female Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s), OMC/OFC, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: Legacy of Protection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595563
Comments: 75
Kudos: 189
Collections: Aisteach Reads





	1. Chapter 1

Adelle Brodeur knew her father’s drunken gambling would be her end... she just didn’t expect to be bought by Coby O’Donlin... or as he’s known by the merchants in town, Le Diable Noir “The Black Devil”. 

Father had been desperately trying to sell her off since his last card game, but she was too plain, too timid for the men in the town to be willing to pay what he was asking. She was terrified when she heard him grumble about renting her to the whorehouse, and when she tried to beg him not to, he backhanded her, right there in the middle of the street. She wiped the blood from her lip and tried to stand, only to be lifted to her feet and find herself face to face with Le Diable Noir himself. Face to face only because he was bent to look at her, his face dark and his eyes angry. 

Everyone in town knew of him. Knew of his skill with the sword, after several attempts by highwaymen and bandits that had tried to waylay his trade caravan close to town. Smoke always signaled new bodies, he never gave them a burial, he burned them like a heathen. Everyone knew how those who crossed his family quietly disappeared. Everyone knew the O'Donlin family was fair, their goods trustworthy, and their weapons faster than breath. Everyone knew you did not cross an O’Donlin and live. Le Diable Noir got his name by being cornered one day in the street market, bounty hunters of some kind that called him a devil before attacking him. He killed them in a matter of seconds, in front of everyone, before going back to conduct business as if their corpses were not cooling on the ground. Smoke had tinted the horizon that night. 

Le Diable Noir was taller than any man she’d ever seen, easily close to seven foot, every inch of him graceful muscle. His eyes and hair were black as shadows, and that coupled with his reputation was how he had earned his name. And his hand was wrapped around her upper arm as he spoke to her father in quiet menacing English. "What is this?"

"She mouthed off some, but she isn't too much trouble as long as you knock some sense in her now and then. Why, you want her?"

The giant of a man frowned as he repeated in heavily accented english. "Want her?"

Her father rattled off a price easily as much as he owed and then half again, and she hoped that Le Diable Noir would laugh and let her go, but he didn’t. Instead he pulled her towards him, his eyes dark and angry. He spat back a much lower price, but still enough to pay her father’s debts, his other hand hovering over the hilt of his sword.

Her father paled and agreed quickly, and she felt shocked terror as money changed hands. He was actually selling her. Her father. He had threatened but… and then her father was walking towards their home and she was being pulled after the devil by the hand around her arm. She felt dazed as she was directed to pack, Le Diable Noir shoving anything she said was hers into a chest. She felt as if she was dreaming, a terrible dream, as the man tucked her chest under one arm, and took her arm again, and began leading her down the street. She had to take two steps for his every one, and the act of trying to keep up with him kept the tears at bay. At least until she was pulled into his room at the inn and the door shut behind them. 

Then she was alone in the room of the Devil. He did not turn to look at her, only set her chest aside and moved towards the bed and began pulling the blanket off. Oh Lord, he stripped it to the white sheet. He had bought her to bed, there had been no wedding, no priest. So she was to be made a whore after all. Suddenly sobs broke from her chest, 

At the sound of her sobs he whirled towards her, letting out a spiel of words she didn’t recognize, his hand raised as if commanding her to stop. She covered her mouth with her hands to stifle the sounds, but couldn’t stop the tears.

A knock sounded on the door and he sighed heavily before moving towards the door behind her. She couldn’t help the little squeak of panic as she quickly dashed to the side to stay out of his reach.

Le Diable Noir opened the door to admit a youth who carried in a trunk and set it on the floor near the door. He dropped a coin into the youth’s hand and ushered him out with a few words, that though she didn’t understand, sounded like a command.

The giant did not turn to her when the door was closed, but bent to open the trunk, pulling out several large blankets that looked warm and skillfully made. Expensive. He liked expensive things. He gave her a thoughtful yet frustrated look and said something questioning in his language. He sighed at her expression and moved to spread a new sheet over the bed and toss one of the blankets over it.

“Speak english?” he asked as he began folding an extra blanket onto the floor. 

She had to shake herself to focus on his words. “A- little. S-speak little.”

“Ai. Ar ndoigh.” He sounded exasperated or upset and she flinched. “Speak little, uh, trade words.” he gave her a slightly hopeful look. “Speak Gaeilge?”

She shook her head and he exhaled sharply before rubbing his face, as if he was in pain. “I buy you? How that does go? here?”

She glanced nervously at the bed then crossed hugged herself with her arms, trying to banish the dread creeping into the stomach. “Yo- you wh-want whore?” Her stomach rolled threateningly even as she spoke the words.

Abruptly he began muttering in his language before scowling at her. “Not whore. Then what?” 

What else was she good for? It was probably a rhetorical question, but she tried to remember her english words to plead her case. “I- I clean? Uh, cook! S-sew? Keep house?” She couldn’t help another fearful look towards the bed.

His face brightened, then darkened just as quickly. “I buy wife? You mean?” 

Wife? Not a whore. She looked at the bed again and swallowed down another fit of nausea. Maybe if God was kind, maybe he would wed her properly…. at least that way she wasn’t- wouldn’t be a whore. “Wife,” she whispered, looking down.

“Ai, eru.” he muttered, then frowned at her intently. “How? You have no knife to trade. How make a wife here?”

“P-priest?” Oh lord, he  _ was _ a heathen! 

“What priest?” he shook his head and made a waving motion. “Show me.”

She faltered, “Uh… holy person-man… lead church?”

He looked completely confused. “Man? Uh, man speak? Words to tie? How done here?”

She hugged herself and looked at the door, “Man live town… have house… ask. He make, Uh together.” 

The devil nodded solemnly. “Alright. We ask.” he looked her over, then frowned. “You need knife. Make wife as you and me. Uh, do right. Both.” 

There was another knock on the door and he moved to answer it, accepting a tray with bread and stew from the youth from earlier. He spoke a few words to him, one of them ‘priest’, and the boy raised their eyebrows, but ran off with a nod.

Oh lord, this was happening. She stayed rooted in her spot as he set the tray down on a table that only had one chair. 

She flinched as he dragged her chest over to make another makeshift seat and gestured to the tray. “Food, hot.” He tilted his head to indicate that she sit and she tried to obey without shaking like a leaf in the wind. 

She failed miserably, her stomach rolled with nausea and she knew nothing in that bowl or bread, no matter how well prepared, would remain in her stomach, but if making him happy meant she would not be reduced to a common whore, she would endure. 

He seemed to study her as he ate, his dark eyes roaming curiously before he spoke. “I not break. Am careful.” 

Oh God, she closed her eyes and tried to breathe. She could do this… what had her mother said about it? Just lay there, he’ll finish and go to sleep. She could do that. Oh god. She felt her stomach roll again.

“You have name?” He spoke again, pulling her from her thoughts.

“A-Adelle.”

“Is Cody O’Donlin may.” he gave her a bright smile and she had to look away. For a man like him to smile like that… her thoughts turned dark and she closed her eyes and prayed for some sort of mercy.

He fell silent again, leaving her to her silent prayers until there was another knock on the door. The devil- Cody, answered and she heard the irritated voice of the priest, speaking in her mother tongue.

“What is this I hear about you needing a priest, O’Donlin? Have you finally decided to convert?”

“No, father. It is for a wedding.” she made herself say, cursing her trembling voice.

O’Donlin spoke in his broken english. “Need marry, right. Her way. You help?”

The priest startled and looked at her in concern, speaking in french. “Adelle? What has happened? You agreed to marry a heathen? Him? The Black Devil, O’Donlin?”

“My f-father arranged it. It is… better this way. H-he agreed t-to marry, instead of…” she trailed off and glanced at the bed.

The priest closed his eyes, he knew her father, who didn’t? He knew the threats, she’d confessed them to him. “Very well, child. I will wed the two of you, for your sake.” he hesitated. “If he brings you to his land they might not recognize your vows before the Lord. They are heathens.” 

She looked down and nodded her understanding. “He… said something about ‘both’.” She glanced uncertainly at Cody, who was watching them speak intently, but patiently. 

He gave her a questioning look and asked in his halting English. “He help you?”

She looked at the priest who nodded with a sad expression. “Yes… will marry.”

He smiled brightly again before turning to the priest earnestly. “What I do? Want to do right.”

The priest looked pensive before asking. “Do you have a ring?” 

Cody frowned. “Ring? For her?” at the priest’s nod, he gave a small thoughtful frown before pulling a golden ring with a flower etched skillfully on it from his little finger. “Will work? Uh, is family ring?”

His family’s crest. She realized and then was reminded all over again just who this giant was. Who she belonged to now. The priest nodded and gestured to the boy who still stood by the door, speaking a few words. The boy took off and reappeared with two others that she recognized as the owners of the inn to act as witnesses.

The ceremony, if it could be called that, was short. Questions were asked and answered swiftly. And before she knew it his ring, much too large for her hand, was heavy on her finger. The priest left shortly after giving her a promise to pray for her. And then she was alone with the devil and he was frowning at where her hand rested in his. He spun the ring easily on her finger before letting her go with a shrug, moving to the folded blankets he had pulled from his trunk. “Fix tomorrow. Rest now.”

She felt the blood drain from her face as she glanced at the bed. Oh lord, she was his now… not a whore but… he could do as he pleased. She watched on in quiet terror as he spread the luxurious blankets over the bed before drawing them back.

He turned and gestured to the bed. “You here.” He moved toward the fireplace and began removing his boots.

She nodded mutely and tried to obey, stepping towards the bed but her legs were shaking and her head was spinning with panic, and the world tilted as her vision went dark. 

  
  


Cody caught the girl before her head hit the floor, but it was clear she had fainted. By the gods and Eru, what had her father done to her? She was terrified, and he did not have the words to reassure her. His one attempt had sent her into trembling stillness, her eyes clenched shut and fingers tight on her own wrists. 

The irony was not lost on him, many times his father and mother had entertained him and his siblings with stories from their first years together. Now here he was… with a wife that he hadn’t planned on or truly desired, and he could not even speak with her properly. The gods were laughing, he knew it. But she still had blood on her dress from where her father had struck her. He knew just enough smatterings of French from his trading that he understood the threats, and heard the truth of them in the man’s voice. If he had not bought her, someone else would have. The relief on her face when he had agreed to marry her instead of whoring her out had made the decision for him. He sighed and removed her boots and laid her in the bed, pulling the clean blankets over her before laying the ‘hopefully’ clean inn’s blanket on the floor before the fire to sleep. 

He pondered how to tell his father he had bought a wife, like she was chattel. Gods, he could see his disappointment already. Growing up it was the one thing that broke him as a child, his father never raised his voice, never punished them physically, often just harder chores or natural consequences. But to hear the quiet way father would say his name… the broken-hearted disappointment… it brought him to tears instantly. 

How could he explain? Mother would understand. He would talk to her first, get her advice. Maybe Fiadh could help when they met up before they returned home . She had inherited some of great grandmother’s gifts, perhaps the language magic was one of them.

He sighed heavily and rolled to his side, wincing when his ear caught the rough blanket. He did not wear his hair as long as his father or brother, for it impeded him in his training, but he kept it long enough to cover his ears without worry of it shifting. He wondered if she had seen them at all and if not, how would she react? Gods he wished this trip were through and he could return quickly home. But he had to finish his trades, deliver his Father’s goods to the merchants in town. He had worked hard to secure this route and he would not disappoint even more by returning without profit.

He would deal with it in the morning. For now, he needed to sleep. Hopefully the events of tonight will ease the girl’s fears when she wakes to see she has been untouched during the night. He was not a fool to the name they had given him here, ‘The Black Devil’, courtesy of the fae hunters who had followed him here not two years ago. His reputation was not a kind one, honest, but not kind.

Gods knew what she’d expect from ‘The Black Devil’.

He fell into a light, uneasy sleep, ears trained to listen for danger, and the sound of movement in the room had him rolling to his feet, his sword ready to meet the intruder. Instead he found a very pale Adelle staring at him with wide, brown eyes, a half folded blanket clutched to her chest.

He put away his sword and muttered an apology, but she remained frozen until he went to the wash pitcher and splashed water on his face. She finished folding up the blankets he had brought and remade the bed with the inn’s blanket while he tried to figure out how to dress without terrifying her again. She gave him the answer by scurrying out the door with a word he did not understand, and he seized the opportunity to quickly wash and dress in clean clothing.

She returned as he was pulling on his boots with a tray of porridge and sausage, and he smiled at her gratefully. She kept her eyes down as she moved the previous night’s tray to make room on the table for it. 

“I take down.” her eyes snapped up to him at the sound of his voice, then dropped again. He sighed and gathered up the used dishes from their supper. Her bowl was untouched. “I take down, you dress?”

He tried to make it sound like a suggestion, but she jumped and hurried to her trunk. He left the room with a sigh. At least she wasn’t crying. 

He knocked before he entered, and he heard her hesitate before opening the door for him. Her face was clean and she was wearing a green dress, her hair down and falling around her arms in brown waves. She dropped her eyes and moved to let him in, returning to the comb on the wash stand and pulling it through her hair before deftly braiding it up and pinning it around her head like a crown. He sat and gestured at the untouched food. “You eat?”

She nodded and hurried to sit, keeping her eyes down as she began to eat. He sighed and turned to his own breakfast. This was going to be a long trip. 

  
  


Adelle was not sure what to think when she woke alone in the bed, still fully clothed, and her giant husband sleeping on the floor. Her first emotion was relief, and then dread. Why had he not taken her, as was his right? It would have been easier for her if he had done it while she was unconscious. But he had not, and she found the unknowing terrifying. 

She tried to act as a good wife, cleaning, fetching breakfast, following his orders. He had ordered her to dress while he cleared the tray from supper, and she had been glad of the chance to change away from his dark eyes. After they ate, it was apparently time for him to work, and she tried to be as unobtrusively helpful as she could, trying to not give him any reason to be displeased with her. 

They stopped first at a jewelers to get his family ring resized to fit her properly, and the next was to the blacksmith, where he spoke rapidly with the man in his "gaeilge", showing his own dagger and pointing out different parts of the shining blade as the spoke. The devil looked happier when they left the smith, even saying something in a chipper tone as they walked away. 

The day was a whirl of his language, as he set up his stall and set her in a chair to the side, out of the way. She wished she had her sewing with her, but without it she tried to listen to the traders shouting, trying to pick out meanings in his language as coins changed hands. During it all she tried to keep her eyes down, keep quiet, carry things when it looked useful. After a quick trip back to the jewelers to pick up her resized ring, he had slid his family's ring onto her finger and had given her a bright smile and pressed a coin into her hands. "Eat?"

She nodded, keeping her eyes down respectfully, and hurried off to the food vendors to fetch him lunch. She went to her favorite out of habit, a kindly old man from her native land who sold meat crepes. He smiled as she approached. “Miss Brodeur! You honor an old man with your business yet again. The usual?”

She forced a wan smile. ”It is Madame O’Donlin now, I'm afraid. But yes, I believe he would like the usual.” 

The old man started, his face falling before he smiled again, but this time it wasn’t as bright. “If he doesn’t you may return for something else.”

She gave him a grateful looked as he wrapped her crepes, not mentioning the fact that he had wrapped an extra one that she had not paid for. His eyes fell on her ring more than once as he handed her purchase to her. “God be with you.” 

She ducked her head, grateful for the sentiment and headed out the door, praying that her, Lord help her, her husband would like the food and she wouldn’t feel the back of his hand and be sent back. The devil- Cody. Her husband, was speaking intently with a woman, a stretch of finely woven fabric held between his hands.

He only spared her a glance and a nod before turning back to his customer, the woman looked more intent on studying him rather than the cloth, and Adelle felt that might be why far more coin than even such a fine fabric should warrant changed hands. After the woman had left with one more trailing glance, he looked after her with a furrow between his brows. He shook his head before turning to her and gestured from the wrapped crepes to her. "Eat?" 

She quickly held out the crepes to him, uncertain what English words to use to express that if he didn’t like them she could get something else. She offered them to him silently, and hoped it wouldn't be necessary. He seemed grateful as he took one, leaving the second in her hand. "Thank you. You eat? Enough coin both?"

She immediately nodded and took a bite of the crepe left in her hand, but it still sat wrong on her stomach, but she ate. He made a surprised noise when he bit into his and smiled. "Good. What is?"

She was immediately flooded with relief. He had liked it. "Crepe." 

He nodded and inspected the Crepe before resuming his lunch, his dark eyes flitting over the crowd sharply, every now and then landing on her with a searching look within them. 

They had just finished when a booming voice called out. “O’Donlin!” 

Cody’s hand was on his sword in an instant as he turned to the speaker, but released it with an easy smile as he greeted one of the other merchants in that ‘gaeilge' tongue. Adelle released the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding as she saw it was the tailor in town. 

There were a few exchanged words before Cody bent and hefted a crate of fabrics, carrying it out of his stall easily and placing it on the tailor's hand pulled cart. Money exchanged hands, and then Cody looked over the remnants of his stock with a satisfied look. He set aside a length of forest green wool and packed the last of his stock into a basket, tying it shut and then standing atop his stall to shout something. Instantly a small crowd formed and from the shouts and gestures she guessed he was auctioning off the last, sight unseen. 

It was a sharp reminder of his reputation that not a one bidding asked to see if the contents of the basket were what he said. A short seamstress bought the basket of fabrics and threads, and Cody bowed gracefully as he presented it to her. He jumped off of the counter, gathered up his coin and the green fabric, and held his arm out to her to a chorus of amused applause. She started at the gesture, which was probably for the onlookers’ benefit, and hesitantly put her hand in the crook of his elbow. 

He led her back to the blacksmith and let her go to examine the objects the man presented to him. He looked satisfied as he paid for them, then offered her his arm again and took her back to the inn. She could feel the stares of the townspeople as Le Diable Noir escorted her through the streets, his family symbol glinting on her finger. 

Once back in his room, he unwrapped his purchase from the blacksmith, revealing a deadly looking dagger with a gold flower on the pommel, and a belt and sheath. He dropped to one knee and carefully belted the blade around her waist. He stood and nodded in satisfaction. "Wife both ways. Mine and yours. Right."

Dread washed down her spine as she realized why he had not touched her last night, why he had slept on the floor. They had not been married in his eyes yet. And now they were. Though part of her was relieved that he was kind enough to claim her in a way his heathen people would recognize, as well as a Christian wedding for her. 

He gave her a look that seemed somewhat nervous before presenting the green wool to her with a small smile. "Wife… uh…" He frowned and searched for a word before shrugging and gesturing for her to take the expensive looking cloth. "For you as wife. Have."

A wedding gift. Her hands shook as she accepted the green wool. It felt like there was enough to make a cloak for herself, an extraordinary amount of the fine material. Expensive. A wedding gift, because now they were married in the heathen way. He pointed at the knife on her waist. "Know how fight?"

She clutched the fabric to her chest and shook her head. He frowned. "Show how, if you want."

The thought of having to learn to fight as he did, of truly becoming part of the deadly O'Donlin family… She shook her head frantically. “Not fight. Please. Keep house.” She didn’t want to be a fighter, a killer. She could clean and sew and cook, and she would learn whatever customs she had to, but she did not want to be a killer. 

He frowned and she immediately regretted her words, but he didn’t backhand her. Instead he turned and looked at the fire as if in thought. When he did speak she jumped. “Man attack, what you do?”

She touched her lip from where her father had hit her just yesterday. What did she do? She tried to do better. His eyes followed the gesture and he scowled before throwing his hand up in defeat. “Ai. Tá Fiadh fhios agam cad atá le déanamh.” Then in english he said curtly. “You wife to me, you fight. You train. Later.”

She felt the finality in his voice and tried to dash away the tears threatening to spill as she nodded. Obediently. 

  
  


Cody was feeling incredibly out of his depth. He knew he didn’t have the… most palatable of reputations in this town, but Adelle flinched and cried and he had no idea how to reassure her that he wasn’t going to force himself on her or hit her. He had tried to let her know he would help her learn to defend herself, so that she didn’t just have to take it when someone hit her, but she had seemed so panicked, had asked he just keep her at home. And when he had tried to explain that she needed to know because his family was constantly in danger, was hunted for their ears, she had just started weeping. Quietly, as if she didn’t want the noise to upset him.

He had half a mind to go find her father and dispose of the waste of flesh, but that would only solidify him in her mind as the monster the murmurs in town painted him as. No, the best thing was to get her back home, his mother would know what to do and perhaps she would not feel as terrified around other women. Fiadh would be a little of a shock for her but she was a woman…. so maybe it would be alright?

He fetched them supper, and afterwards headed off another round of fainting by laying down on the floor before pointing her towards the bed, making it clear he was staying where he was. She gave him a wide eyed look like a frightened deer but scrambled quickly into the bed, pulling the blanket up around her ears as if to hide. She woke him in the morning with the noise of fetching breakfast for them, and then dogged his steps like a timid shadow as he pulled his caravan together to head for home. 

He had had to hire several men to bring in goods and wares, but now that most everything had been sold, he no longer needed the extra wagons and it cost more to haul them all back then to procure new ones. His brother Ailbhe was always breeding new pack animals. So he sold the wagons, and then the extra horses, making sure the money for the horses was donated to the orphanage, as was Ailbhe’s wish. The hired men were paid and sent off, and the wagon with just his and Adelle’s things was loaded up and hitched to the two remaining horses, the ones who had fared best on the trip. They would be good for Ailbhe’s breeding project. 

Adelle flitted after him the whole while, never speaking unless spoken too, keeping her eyes down, trying to help. He had to make her sit when he saw her begin to lag from trying to run to keep up with him. He felt completely helpless. He could mend a broken leg, a torn limb, but he had no idea how to mend a broken spirit. How long had she been degraded, expecting to be hit for any unwanted noise? Gods, he didn’t even know how old she was. What if she was yet a child? 

They managed to begin their travels the next day, and that was when the real trouble began to start. Her face grew steadily paler the further from the town they drew, and when it disappeared over the horizon she actually let out a quiet sob before stifling it with her hand. He felt like a heel, he was taking her from possibly the only home she had ever known, whisking her away like the devil they believed him to be. Gods, what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just leave her to be whored out by her father, but he had to return home. And he didn’t even have the words to explain, to tell her he would bring her back for visits if she wanted, that she was in no danger from him. 

Suddenly the tales of his parent’s first year together did not seem as funny as they had before. He cleared his throat when they were a few miles out and she jumped so high she nearly tumbled off the cart, he had to catch her by her dress’ sleeve, which only served to frighten her more.

“Uh… home good. Other... “ He had to search his limited English vocabulary for anything similar to ‘family’. He only used it for trade, so none of this ever came up. “Women? At home. They like you.” She suddenly looked sick and he wondered if he had mispronounced or used the wrong word. “Uh, Mirwa, have small girl. Uh, one,” he couldn’t think of the word for ‘child’ so he made a vague gesture to his midsection. “Muire is… fair. Fiabh, uh.” He hesitated, how to describe Fiabh? “Meet soon. You see. Máthair, at home. Nice like you.” He gave her a reassuring smile, hoping to put her at ease but she was staring at him with a decidedly nauseous expression.

“F-four… women?” She asked, her voice wavering. 

“You five, have…” What was the word for friend? “Partner?” She still looked pale and he was unsure as to why this seemed to be bad news. “Big, uh… home.” Maybe she was worried there wasn’t enough to go around? She hadn’t seemed to have much. “Room for you.” 

She sat back against the seat of the wagon with a blank expression and he firmly shut his mouth lest he make her feel worse. Somehow. Gods, he hoped Fiadh could talk to her. 

  
  
  


‘You five’. Five. Five wives. She didn’t… she didn’t know what she had expected? She knew the heathens had different ways, but… she had hoped… What had she hoped? She had hoped he’d be kind enough to marry her instead of whoring her out, and he had. Maybe the reason he had not taken her yet was because of his other wives. Who knew what customs they had? Maybe the first one, Mirwa? Maybe the first wife had to approve of her. 

Oh god, her stomach rolled threateningly at the thought, and the jarring of the wagon wasn’t helping either. It felt like an eternity before he stopped for the night, lighting a small fire and pulling a few things from the wagon. She took over tending to the small supper and he went and spread two blankets in the back of the wagon, chewing his lip thoughtfully before moving a travel pack to lay between them as a sort of barrier. She felt something similar to relief at the gesture, at another night of peace.

She tried to eat, but barely managed more than a few mouthfuls before her stomach protested. She worried he would be upset at her wasting the food, but his eyes were scanning their surroundings intently, and when he had finished eating he gestured vaguely to the wagon before heading off into the growing darkness, his sword in his hand. 

She slept fitfully, nightmares of the devil and his wives interspersed with waking up suddenly as O’Donlin rose from his blanket to walk into the night with his sword drawn. She felt exhausted when the sun rose and Cody began packing up their small camp, shoving an ember baked potato into her hands as he did. And then they were on the road again, each jarring motion of the wagon drawing her farther from the home she knew and closer to the O’Donlin’s territory. 

Cody suddenly stood in the wagon seat, his eyes narrowed at the path before them and his hand hovering over his sword. Abruptly he grinned at her and hopped down from the wagon with a cheerful. “Fiadh!”

She felt her stomach turn as the figure of a horse and rider became visible, and climbed out of the wagon in order to greet his… other wife respectfully. She did not want any ill will between her and the other O’Donlin women. The rider galloped up in a thunder of dust and a loud cry, and then Cody let out a ‘oof’ as the rider  _ slammed _ into him bodily to embrace him. 

Adelle found herself gaping at the woman in awe. She was only shy of Cody by maybe a hand, towering over her till it felt she would tilt backwards if she tried to look up at her. She carried long, wicked looking knives at her waist, and wore a shocking outfit of trousers and a tunic, similar to Cody’s clothing, but… wilder, and they showed a terrifying amount of muscle. Her hair was a wild mane of red curls, pulled up onto her head to reveal… god help her, pointed ears. The woman’s blue eyes seemed like they cut straight through her as she stared, and Adelle dropped her gaze quickly.

She heard Cody and the woman, apparently Fiadh, speaking urgently in their language, and then she felt Cody’s hand touched her arm to pull her closer. Abruptly there was a cracking sound and Adelle looked up in shock to see Cody stumbling away from Fiadh, holding his face with a shocked expression. Fiadh reached out and slapped him on the back of the head again, and yelled at him, her arms waving angrily, and Cody’s expression turned from shock, to horror, to chagrin. Adelle felt her heart sink at the reception. What would he do to her if the other women did not accept her? 

But the extraordinary woman just crouched in front of her and gave a small, sharp smile. She said something soothing in her language, then pointed at Cody and hit her fist against her forehead in the nation wide symbol for ‘he’s an idiot’. The woman held out a hand, palm up, her skin calloused and scarred from work, or fighting. “Iss Fiadh May.”

Adelle cautiously put her own hand into hers, feeling incredibly like a child at how small her hand was compared to the woman. “A-adelle.” 

Fiadh said something questioningly, and then looked at Cody with a shrug. Cody ran a hand over his face but nodded. Fiadh looked back at her and smiled, then touched her belly with a questioning expression.

“She ask, feel good? Sick?” Cody translated, then added. “She not speak English, say words feel dirty.”

Adelle felt the blood drain from her face at the question. How was she supposed to explain he had not touched her, so she was not with child? Was she even supposed to explain? What if she would be sent back because he had not sealed the marriage? What if they just made her disappear? She felt her chest grow tight with the questions, the uncertainty of her fate, and then suddenly she was being hugged, the giant of a woman wrapping her arms around her and holding her as if she were a terrified child. 

Which, as she suddenly began sobbing into the hard muscle of her shoulder, she honestly felt like. The woman made quiet shushing noises into her ear and just held her, seemingly uncaring of the fact that she was soaking the shoulder of her shirt with her tears. 

Cody asked something quietly and Fiadh hummed an affirmation before pulling back with a kind smile and handing her a waterskin. Adelle obediently took it with shaking hands and drank, wondering if her outburst had made things worse. Men didn’t like it when she cried. 

Cody spoke gently. “I… sorry. Not know. Um. Hard speak.” He looked around as if searching for the words like they would somehow jump out at him.

Fiadh said the word ‘scare’ in English, then spat and took the waterskin from her to rinse her mouth. Adelle found it faintly amusing as Cody continued. “I scare? You not need be scare. Sorry.”

She blinked at him in numb shock. He was apologizing for scaring her. Le Diable Noir was apologizing to her. For scaring her. What if he thought she was too scared and tried to send her back to her father? Who would just turn around and sell her again? She had gone days without being struck, and that was more than she’d ever experienced before.  “I- I good wi fe. Please not make me go back.”

“Ai, pashteh.” Fiadh soothed.

Cody made a strained noise “You only go back if you want. You… good.”

Adelle felt something in herself loosen at the slight praise and Fiadh stood and held out her hand again. She pointed at her massive red horse and said something that sounded like an offer. 

“She say, ride with her to house, or with me. You… choose.” He hesitated, then hastily added, “Please.”

Her choice? Her mind felt empty as she tried to process what was happening. But all of it came down to, while Fiadh was kind, she had pointed ears and sharp knives and Adelle… didn’t know her. What would happen if she was brought to meet the other wives without Cody? Better the devil she knew. “Cody. Please.” 

Fiadh smiled and nodded, then swung into the back of the wagon and propped her feet up on Cody’s trunk. Cody sighed, but smiled and collected her horse and tossed the reins over the edge of the wagon. He looked at Adelle uncertainly. “Uh, get in? Please?”

Adelle nodded, still feeling slightly like she might be dreaming, and climbed into the wagon. Cody hopped in, and then they were moving again, the pair talking rapidly over her head in their language, or well, Cody talked and Fiadh hummed or laughed, occasionally making short comments. Fiadh pulled an apple out of nowhere and began peeling it with her knife, feeding the coiled peel to her horse before slicing into it. Adelle jumped when the long knife was pointed at her, a slice of apple speared on it’s point, and Fiadh smiling brightly at her. 

She carefully took it with a quiet thanks and nibbled on the fruit. How long had it been since she’d had fresh fruit? She had to make herself eat it slowly, but couldn’t help the wistful sigh when the sweet fruit was gone. Another slice was offered to her on the tip of that deadly blade, and she felt a sense of relieved shock at the sharing of the valuable fruit. She and Fiadh shared the apple between them, and she found herself glancing often at the extraordinary woman as she sprawled in her mens’ clothing over the trunks, her knives open and her laughs free.

If one of his wives was so… strong, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. Though she found herself feeling quite… less near the giant. She was small and plain and timid, and Fiadh was tall and fiery and dangerous. 

Suddenly Fiadh said something in her language, and braced her feet against Cody’s side and pushed him so that he fell off of the wagon. One of his hands grabbed Fiadh’s legs and tried to drag her down with him, and then the pair were wrestling in the dust. Adelle took the reins lest the horses spook and watched the pair be left behind. Should she stop? But then Fiadh came sprinting up and swung into the back of the wagon with a smug expression, propping her feet up on the trunk again.

“Cody… alright?” She asked tentatively.

Fiadh nodded and folded her hands behind her head, seemingly without a care in the world. It was some time later when Cody returned, muttering darkly at Fiadh as he half ran to catch up with the wagon, but carrying something wrapped in his handkerchief. He pulled himself up into the wagon and then held the handkerchief out to her. “Uh, sweet. For you.” 

She took it hesitantly and opened it to find it filled with wild red berries. He took one and ate it, smiling at her nervously. “Uh, Sú talún. For you.”

He had picked berries for her. She gave him a hesitant smile before pressing a berry to her nose and inhaling the scent of it. She had never had one of these before. Fruit was far too dear. She couldn’t help the pleased sound she made when she bit into it, but Cody looked delighted, his face lighting up with a brilliant smile as he earnestly offered. “I get you more. If you want.” 

She nodded shyly, holding the handkerchief of berries close to her chest and feeling for the first time that maybe… maybe things would be alright. “I… like that.” 

  
  
  


It wasn’t until Adelle had bitten into the strawberry with a blissful expression that he realized that was the first honest smile he had seen her make. He had been right, Fiadh had been able to help, first by slapping sense into him and explaining that he was big, and scary, and rude, and then showing him how to fix it. Gentleness, please and sorry, and above all, stop expecting her to say what she needs or wants. And now Adelle had smiled, over something as simple as a wild strawberry, and he resolved that he was going to give her many more reasons to smile. 

Her life had obviously been terrible, and now she was stuck with him, and he would do his best to make sure that her life from now on was… better. 

Fiadh already knew, somehow in her way, she knew and that made him feel relief in his chest. Now he just had to introduce her to mother and father. But he would think on that later. For now, he had a trip to manage, and a terrified wife that he needed to reassure somehow that he would  _ never _ force her. 

Since she enjoyed strawberries, he found himself scanning the roadside for signs of other fruits, bringing her berries, spring greens, anything fresh she might enjoy. Once he had brought her a bouquet of dandelions and she had looked adorably shocked when he had shown her that they were to eat. She had actually laughed as she had taken a bite out of the bouquet, a quiet, timid sound, but an actual laugh. 

Fiadh had taken to showing her how to fight during the times that he was not around, and one night he returned from his hunt of fresh mushrooms to find Adelle flat on her back, Fiadh over her as a lover might lay, and showing her how to bring her dagger out of her belt and into her ribs from her confined position. Adelle repeated the motion until she could bring the point of her dagger up into Fiadh’s chest quickly and even with one hand restrained. Adelle had paled when she had seen him watching, but he just smiled at her and reassured her in English. “You do good.” 

He knew that was meant for her own peace of mind, and he was glad that Fiadh had thought to teach her that. Adelle seemed nervous that she was learning to kill a man who tried to force her, but he just made sure to move slowly and present her with the mushrooms he had found. 

Four weeks they traveled together, Fiadh sleeping in the space between them and for once it looked like they might just make it through this trip home without trouble. and of course, the day he thought that was the day that fae hunters showed up at their camp. He had let himself grow relaxed the closer they drew to home. Father normally kept the fae hunters at bay, his reputation preventing them from drawing so close. So he had grown lax in his checks.

He was brushing down Fiadh’s horse when suddenly Fiadh’s eyes grew distant and she stared at the sky with her mouth open. Instantly he drew his sword and went to Adelle, pushing her towards the cart urgently as he scanned their surroundings. Fiadh shook herself and frowned at him as she drew her knives. 

“Ten. Six after me, four after you.”

“Fae hunters?”

“Mine are. Yours are… complicated.” 

Fair enough. He motioned for Adelle to get into the wagon. “Hide. please.” The please was automatic at this point, falling at the end of every sentence addressed to her. 

She looked at his hand on his sword and paled before obediently climbing in and ducking down low, pulling one of the blankets over her head. With her as safely hidden as could be, he moved to stand next to Fiabh, facing where she was staring at the forest. It wasn’t long before he heard riders, and then less time before they broke through the tree line and came to a halt at the sight of them prepared. 

“Cutting it close, aren’t we, Fiabh?” He whispered, knowing it would make her snort.

“We’ve come for the fae. Give her to us, and we will let you live.” The ring leader spoke from his horse assuredly.

Some of the men started and glared at him, and Cody marked them in his mind as the ones after him. Fiadh would take care of them as they went after him, and he would take care of the ones that went after her. Only two archers, she’d have to get them, he wasn’t able to throw his sword as well as she could throw her knives. “There are no fae here.”

“You think us blind?” The ring leader scoffed. “I can see her ears from here!”

Cody sighed and tucked his hair behind his ear and the group swore, muttering amongst themselves. “Two of them!” “Didn’t sign up for two of them!” “The Black Devil!” “Fae!” 

“Please, turn around and leave. We have done nothing to you, and would rather not fight.”

“You lie!” One of the younger ones spat. 

“We will not be leaving without her.” 

He readied his sword and shared a look with Fiadh, who turned to him, shrugged, and then threw both of her knives in a blur of movement that cut down the pair of archers. He leaped after them, catching the swordsman next to them by surprise, and kicked a corpse with her knife through its throat towards her, defending until she could retrieve her knife. 

After that it was a dance of dodge, strike, defend, dodge, attack, defend. They danced through the fight, protecting each other’s backs, cutting through defenses and spitting blood from their mouths. Blasted stuff got everywhere. Fiadh was panting by the time the last hunter fell, blood trickling from a cut on her arm and a bruise darkening her eye. She started laughing and pointed at him and he grimaced at her as he touched the slash in his shirt from a knife strike that had opened a line of flesh across his chest. Ai, he hated fae hunters. 

He pulled the ruined shirt off and turned with a questioning glance over his shoulder. It hurt, so something had struck. Fiadh tsked and hit her fist against the flat of her hand. Just a bruise then. So he had a bruise on his back, a cut across his chest, and a split lip, and all she had was a bruise on her face and a cut on her arm. Damn, she would never let him live it down. 

He flicked his wrist, sending most of the excess blood on his sword flying off, before he tore a bit of shirt off of the corpse to wipe it clean before sliding in back in his sheath. “They’ll need to be burned.”

Fiadh grunted curtly and nodded towards the wagon. 

He turned to see Adelle, head and shoulders peeking out of the wagon, white as a sheet, eyes locked on one of the bodies. She had seen then. Seen The Black Devil they claimed him to be. He sighed and looked back at Fiadh, “What do I do?”

Fiadh shrugged and grabbed the ankle of one of the fae hunters to drag it to a pile. “Try talking.”

“Rich coming from you, oh great and silent one.” He muttered, then cautiously approached the wagon, speaking in English. “You alright?” 

Her head jerked from the body to him before she scrambled backwards till her back hit the other side of the wagon bed. Her eyes wide and fearful. He stopped and held his hands up. “Not want scare you. Sorry.” 

Her eyes darted to his hands and she curled tighter in on herself as if she wished she could disappear. He looked down and grimaced when he saw he still had blood on his hands. “Adelle, men not good. Hunt us. Kill us. We…” he tried to think of the word but her small voice cut through his fumbling.

“T-timothy.” She was trembling visibly as she shook her head. 

Timothy? Gods, the body she’d stared at. He looked back to see a youthful face staring unseeing into the sky. Was it her lover? Friend? Brother? Oh Eru, and she saw him kill them. 

“Ai.” Fiadh called and waved a paper at him. He sighed and stepped towards her to take it, only to find his description written on it, and a declaration that he was a devil who stole christian women. 

He sighed and pressed the heel of his hand to his face. Shit. “Complicated, huh?”

She shrugged and waved at Adelle. “You talk, I burn.”

“Thank you.” He said dryly. How was he supposed to talk to a girl who was terrified of him, who didn’t even speak the same language as him, and who had just seen him kill someone she knew?

“No!” Adelle cried out as Fiadh touched the body of the late Timothy, then she paled and covered her mouth with her hands, shrinking backwards. 

“Ai, I not able to help him now.” He said apologetically. He tried to make himself seem smaller by as he slowly moved to the wagon’s side. “Adelle. I not let him kill Fiadh.”

She breathed in a shuddering breath before asking in a small, trembling voice. “Not burn Timothy. Lay to rest… right?”

Oh, right. The people in the towns preferred to bury their dead. “Aye, we can.” He looked over at Fiadh and she nodded to let him know she heard. He turned back to see Adelle with her eyes closed as tears fell down her cheeks. He steeled himself for what he was about to ask her. “Adelle, tell truth please. Timothy? Who to you?”

She paled and hugged herself, shaking her head with wide eyes. “Frehnd, just frehnd.” 

He looked at Fiadh for translation, which she provided. “Just a friend.” 

He breathed out heavily, so not only had he bought her, married her, scared her, dragged her away from her only home and family, he now had killed her friend. There was nothing he could say. He silently nodded and picked up the shovel that Fiadh had brought with her and moved to find a spot to bury a body. 

  
  
  
  


Adelle was finding it hard to breathe. Her heart was racing so fast she felt lightheaded, and all she could think of was the casual way the black devil had revealed his ears, and then how the two of them had shredded through the group of men in the span of seconds. She hadn’t been able to even see them move until Le Diable Noir had pulled his sword from Timothy’s chest and Fiadh had started laughing at him. 

Timothy, shy, quiet Timothy, one of the butcher’s sons. When he tended the counter he always gave her extra meat with a secret little mischievous smile. He had taught her to read. And now he was dead, killed by Le Diable Noir without mercy, and for what? Did he come looking for her? Had he been trying to save her? 

She numbly watched as the black devil dug a grave for her friend, and then laid his body inside. He frowned at her, blood dried in spatters across his face, and she shrank back. “How you do? Lay rest?” 

She glanced at Timothy but had to look away. What could she do? She wasn’t a priest, she had only been to her mother’s burial a few years ago.

“Ai, you need uh, say words? Or… plants? Stones?”

Why was he doing this? Why did he bring her berries and flowers you could eat and bury her friend that he had killed, while they burned the rest? Why did he keep his wife between them at night? Why was he doing this to her? It was too much and she spun and ran back to the wagon. He would be angry with her, maybe he would finally stop hiding who he was, trying to make her believe she was better off with him. 

She was crying again, and her tears blinded her so that she ran straight into a wall and fell backwards. No, not a wall. Fiadh. The giant, deadly woman with pointed ears and blood on her face and hands. Who had shared an apple with her and had killed almost a dozen men. Fiadh crouched and stared at her with piercing blue eyes, but said nothing.

“Why?” She found herself asking. Why were they acting kind when underneath… she burst into a fresh, new round of tears.

She felt large hands slip under her and she was swiftly lifted up against a hard, bare chest and immediately felt herself panic as she looked up to see Cody with a determined set to his jaw. He snapped something to Fiadh, who nodded and moved off.

With that, he carried her towards the wagon. She felt her heart racing. Was this it? Would he stop treating her with the fake gentleness, giving her soft words and gifts? Was the mask torn off and now she would feel the devil’s teeth? She half expected to be thrown into the back of the wagon and commanded to cease her tears. But he didn’t, he instead climbed into the wagon as easily as if he had not been holding her.

She felt herself shaking as he set her gently down on the blankets. He moved around her and gathered more before draping them over her shoulders and wrapping her up until only her head poked out.

He sat back heavily and put his head in his hands, not looking at her. “I sorry you see. I sorry I scare you. I sorry Timothy. I- I try give chance.” He looked up at her, his eyes black and bottomless, blood still streaked across his face and leaking sluggishly from the cut across his chest. “I ask to leave. I ask to stop. Not want kill.”

He was- no, it was more lies, more soft words that meant nothing. She looked away without answering and heard him sigh, it was bone deep and weary, but there was no demand for her attention. Instead he moved slightly away and began washing blood from his face and arms with the water from the waterskin. She dared not look at him as he cleaned and bandaged his chest, but he did it quickly and did not stay long in the wagon after he pulled another shirt from his trunk and dressed. 

He set a small jar on the bottom of the wagon next to the water skin, and before he jumped out of the wagon he turned back and she could feel the weight of his eyes on her. “Stay in wagon, please. Rest better in morning.”

She choked back another sob when she saw smoke begin to rise in the distance, her stomach heavy at the thought of all those people… just disappearing. Everyone knew not to cross the O’Donlins. Everyone knew the Devil’s skill with the sword. She wondered what he would do if she ran as O’Donlin took up his sword and strode off into the woods, leaving her alone in the wagon, the blood of those dead sinking into the ground around her.

But where would she run? Back to the town, back to be whored out by her father? No-one would marry the Devil’s wife. Too many had seen his ring on her finger, had seen him walking her through the streets. Where else could she go? She couldn’t speak the language here. She gripped the blankets tighter around herself. She couldn’t run. The ring on her finger was just as heavy as any chain.

  
  
  


Cody didn’t know what to do, for the next few days of travel Adelle flinched and kept as far away from him and Fiadh as she could without outright running away. Fiadh just watched her, not offering any advice, barely speaking, as was her way. But at one point, when Adelle had cowered against the wagon side when he had accidentally stood too quickly near her, Fiadh reached out and drew Adelle’s dagger. She pushed it into Adelle’s hands and angled it so it pointed towards her own chest, staring into Adelle’s eyes sharply.

He had frozen, knowing in his mind Fiadh could avoid the blade but, Adelle was scared, frightened, and like any cornered creature could lash out in her fear. Fiadh leaned forward till the point touched her, and the contact seemed to startle Adelle, who wrenched the dagger away with a wide eyed shake of her head. Fiadh smiled gently and spoke in English. “We protect what is ours.” And then had immediately gone and rinsed her mouth out with water, spitting it out with a grimace. 

He had given her as much space as he could afford without risking safety, he slept outside the wagon now, often propped against a nearby tree or rock. It was not comfortable but at least she was not cowering in the corner from him. He still searched out berries and greens as they traveled, but left them on the other side of the seat for her, out of arm’s reach lest she flinch. 

Oh Eru and the gods, how was he to explain this to his father? His father had often spoken about the need to be gentle, that because they were stronger and faster than the ‘atan’ they had to take special care to be kind, to not frighten them. That the bond between a husband and wife was sacred, not to be taken lightly. And here he was, returning home with a terrified atan, a wife that he had  _ bought _ in the middle of the street. 

The closer they drew to home the more his dread grew. Even as relief of crossing the boundary stones settled over his fea, another thing his father’s blood had gifted him, he was dreading the revelation of what he had done. He looked up as a movement in the trees caught his eyes, and couldn’t help a smile as Mirwa began climbing down, his little niece, Laoise, tied to her back in her sling. 

Adelle flinched and ducked lower in the back of the wagon as she appeared on the ground with an excited cry. “Brother! Sister! You’re back! Welcome home! Who’s the stranger!”

She turned to hug Fiadh as he answered. “My wife. Adelle.” 

She let out a quiet shocked noise, then turned to Adelle with a bright grin. “Hello!” 

She reached out towards where she sat on the wagon for a greeting and Cody barely had time to warn before Adelle began to shake. “Careful! She’s shy!”

“Shy? She’s terrified!” Mirwa scolded with a frown. “Hello, Adelle, I am Mirwa.”

“We were attacked on the road, and she doesn’t speak Gealic. Only a little English.”

“And of course, I speak none.” Mirwa sighed regretfully. She stepped back and put her hand over her heart and bowed slightly to Adelle. “Mirwa.” She turned around and pointed over her shoulder. “Laoise.” 

Adelle’s eyes softened slightly at the sight of his niece and her bright gray eyes looking at everyone curiously before breaking into a beautiful grin, showcasing two new teeth. “Hi.”

Adelle reached out, then drew her hand back sharply with a worried glance at him. Mirwa had seen though, and gestured handing something to her. “You want to hold her?” 

He translated as best he could, and was surprised when Adelle nodded shyly, speaking in heavily accented, but understandable Gaelic. “Please.” He gave her a gentle smile and helped Mirwa unstrap the sling to release Laoise, squeezing his niece in greeting before carefully handing her to Adelle. 

They watched as Laoise’s chubby hands grabbed at Adelle’s hair and giggled as some of it tickled her face. The giggle made a small, but genuine smile appear on his wife’s face. Adelle gently touched the soft point of Laoise’s ear. It wasn’t as pronounced as her mother’s or grandfathers, but it was still there. Then she inhaled and spoke rapidly in her French, drawing a laugh from Laoise.

“You ta’ funny.” 

Adelle smiled slightly before pulling his handkerchief, folded around some wild strawberries, from her pocket. She looked up for permission and Fiadh nodded from where she was standing with her arm slung around Mirwa’s shoulder, and then showed the berries to Laoise, who crowed excitedly at the offered treat. 

“I’ll go tell mother that we’re expecting one more for dinner.” Mirwa smiled, giving him another hug before swinging up into her trees. Adelle gaped after her, then gave Laoise and him a panicked look. Laoise was too busy squishing berries into her mouth to care that her mother had left her with her aunts and uncle. 

Cody shrugged and started the horses back up to take them home. Mirwa did what Mirwa did. Adelle seemed to slowly relax as they completed the journey home, listening intently to Laoise’s baby chatter and sharing her berries with a faint smile. She jumped, curling her arms around Laoise protectively when a shout rang through the trees, and Ailbhe’s son, Sean, came sprinting out to slam into him for a hug. 

“Ai! You’re getting too big to do that!” Cody teased as he easily picked up Sean to squeeze him in greeting. “You about knocked me over, pintsize.” 

“Ach, you’re like a tree, Uncle.” Sean wiggled out of his arms and then bounced on his toes. “Da says that next year I can go with you!”

“Ai, and what about my say?” Cody hid his unease behind a laugh. “I say the same thing my da said to me, you have to be able to knock the sword from my hand first.”

“Awwwwhey!” Sean’s whine turned into surprise as he noticed Adelle. “Who’s this?”

  
  
  


Adelle wasn’t sure what to think, how to feel. Mirwa, the first wife, had come swinging from a tree like… like a heathen, just as tall and beautiful as Fiadh but with dark curls and storm gray eyes that seemed to laugh as she spoke, and then had let her hold her child, and then had disappeared back into the trees. 

A child had tackled O’Donlin, and the devil had laughed and hugged them before introducing them with a smile. “Adelle, this Sean my-“ 

The boy, Sean, excitedly began speaking in Gealic before Cody admonished him with a small laugh. 

She found herself confused and shocked at O’Donlin, at how at ease he was around the children, and how at ease they were with him. There was not a trace of fear, no hesitation before grabbing him, or poking him, or smearing berry juice on his shirt. Was it because they were his? 

She felt her mouth drop open as the house came into view. No wonder he had said there was room for her, it was practically a mansion, huge and with large windows in every wall so it glittered in the sun. Her heart caught in her throat at the reminder of who they were, what and who he was… she found herself holding Mirwa’s baby closer as if the child could calm her racing heart. What would they think of her? The others? Oh Lord, this was happening, she was one of a heathen merchant king’s wives. 

A flash of gold drew her gaze from the mansion and she felt her breath catch again at the sight of a true giant with golden hair, achingly beautiful in the sunlight, and beside him, appearing tiny beside him though she was probably of the same height, an older woman with graying curls and the same black eyes as O’Donlin. O’Donlin tensed and moved to greet them, bowing with his hand over his heart to the golden giant, who clasped his shoulder with a smile. He bowed to the woman as well, but she just made a tsking noise and drew him into a hug.

The giant said something, pointing to her in question, and Adelle tried not to draw back at the attention. These were people that O’Donlin respected. O’Donlin moved to her and held out his hand. “Help down? If want? Meet, uh, Mahayr and Ahayr.” 

‘Mahayr’ it was a name she had recited to herself many times before she fell into an exhausted sleep night after night for weeks, trying to remember the names of his ‘women’, to pronounce them. But this woman was not the youthful fourth wife she had imagined. She was easily much older than O’Donlin, their hair and eyes so similar, as if they were- Oh. She felt utterly embarrassed at the realization. Mother and Son. And she could see the likeness between the golden giant and O’Donlin, the similarities in stature and face. Father. Mahayr and Ahayr. Mother and father. 

She absently let Cody help her down from the wagon, holding Laoise securely to her hip as she faced his parents. He gave her a weak smile before speaking in his language, her name, and ‘english’ among the words. 

The golden giant smiled and it seemed as if the sun shone brighter just at that moment. “Greetings, Adelle.” He spoke in accented english, yet she saw the woman beside him grimace slightly at the words, similar to Fiadh but not quite as disgusted. “I am Del, Cody’s Father.” He then wrapped an arm around the older woman’s shoulders. “My wife, his mother, Beth.” 

She tried, and failed, to smile and bowed slightly as she had seen Cody do, unsure of what was expected of her. The mother, Beth, reached out and patted her arm with a bright, kind smile, speaking softly in her Gaelic, one of the few phrases she had picked up during the journey. “It is alright.” 

Mirwa appeared from the house with a shorter man on her arm, and she waved excitedly. “Adelle!” She rattled off in Gealic and Cody laughed quietly. “Meet uh, man wife?”

“Husband.” Del offered.

“Mirwa husband, Aiden. Aiden, my wife, Adelle.”

Aiden, ducked his head in a small bow, and though he wasn’t short, easily over six feet, he still looked small beside Mirwa. Mirwa. Who was married to Aiden. She looked between Mirwa and Cody and with the revaluation of his parents fresh on her mind, noted the similarities between their hair and height, the similar shape of their face. Siblings. She looked at Fiadh, who was grinning sharply at her, leaning against the wagon side with a knowing smirk as she pointed to her ears and then bowed to the golden giant and his wife, then accepted their hug. Sister. Oh. 

She barely had time to process that realization when another golden giant appeared from around the side of the house, a brown haired woman with brown eyes on his arm and Sean bouncing in front of them. They greeted her with gentle smiles as Cody introduced them. “Ailbhe, his wife Muire, and son Sean.”

She felt staggered by the new knowledge, the relief that she was not one of many wives mingling with confusion that all that she had thought she knew was wrong. She was surrounded by the O’Donlin family, tall, beautiful, deadly O’Donlins, all of them looking at her and smiling. Beth, the mother, stepped forward and picked up her hand with the O’Donlin ring and smiled as she touched it, and Adelle felt too dazed to even flinch at the unexpected gesture. Beth made a slight face, then said in careful English. “Family.” Then she said it in Gaelic and Adelle repeated the word obediently. Family. One of them.

  
  


Cody watched as his mother led Adelle into the house, wrapping an arm around her in comfort as she spoke in gentle, soothing tones. He hoped she could at least find a friend, if not a mother figure from her. But this also left him standing alone with his father as the others moved into the house as if sensing their need to speak. Father studied him for a long moment before speaking. “A wife?” 

Cody closed his eyes, unsure if he could look his father in the eye and see the disappointment. “Yes, Father. Forgive me, I should not have-“

He was cut off as his father’s arms came around him in a hug. “Ai, Cody, I am just surprised at the suddenness. You said nothing about her.” 

Cody exhaled. “I met her on this trip. Her father was… a brutal man, she’s… broken, but kind. Gentle.” 

His father hummed, “I will tell the others to be careful. Maybe she can heal with us.” 

Cody felt an incredible sense of loving relief at his father’s acceptance. “I- she takes everything as an order if you do not say please, and she is afraid of being struck for making noise.”

“Thank you. I will speak to the others, and tell Sean not to shout.” He then sighed with a fond laugh. “Not that it will do much good.”

Cody laughed and moved to the wagon to pull his trunk open and retrieve the lockbox of gold to present to his father. “The trip was successful, but I fear I may not be able to return by myself next year. The locals… do not like me.” 

His father didn’t seem surprised as much sad. “They fear what they do not understand and lash out as they’ve been taught. It is not your fault.” 

It was his fault though, he had no choice but to deal with the fae hunters when they attacked, but he might have slowed down, might have pretended to be more… atan. He had reacted and now he was The Black Devil. And the Black Devil had ‘stolen’ one of their women, had slain her ‘rescuers’. “They… they think I stole her, tried to take her back.”

Father actually laughed. “And they think I marked your mother before she was born and fell out of the sky to claim her.”

“But you di-”

“Hush. Grandmother is not to be believed, the old witch.” Father smiled playfully. “Help me unload the wagon so you can scrub the smell of blood off of you before dinner.”

He smiled gratefully and did as he was instructed. Once the wagon was unloaded he hurried to bathe, and when he was clean and dressed, he was allowed into the main part of the house. Father was firm on the rule that the smell of blood and smoke were not allowed in the home, had built a bathing room by the entrance just for that purpose. He found Adelle sitting on the floor with Laoise, her hair wet and drying in the air as she looked over Laoise’s shoulder at the book, faithfully repeating the words Laoise recited. Apple. Book. Cup. 

She startled and rose to her feet when she saw him, and he tried to raise his hand in a calming manner and instead turned his attention to his niece who was looking up in confusion. “Hello, sweet girl.” He moved to sit on the floor next to her and point at the book. “What’s this one?”

Laoise immediately brightened and began gabbering words as she pointed to their pictures. She reached up and grabbed Adelle’s skirt, tugging her to sit back down and watch. 

He saw father slip past him and whisper to mother, who nodded with a sad expression before bringing over a cup of tea and offering it to Adelle. Adelle took it with a shocked expression and a fumbling ‘thank you’ in Gaelic. Mother smiled and patted her shoulder gently. “You are welcome.” 

The tea smelled of one of grandmother’s concoctions, the one she gave to calm and soothe frayed nerves. Adelle’s eyes fluttered shut as she breathed in the scent and he hoped it helped her. 

His father was the first to speak between Laoise’s gabbering, but he kept his voice soft and gentle as he spoke in slow English. “You will want to build a home, I expect, though you are welcome to stay here if you wish. You may have your pick of our land.”

Adelle froze, her hands tight around her cup as Father repeated himself in Gealic so Cody could understand clearly. He looked at her, at the way she kept her eyes down and still flinched away from him. She seemed calmer around Mother and Laoise. “I think… we will stay here until... “ He paused, unsure how to phrase it. “I think we will stay here until she is more comfortable, can understand us. I’m not the best at… talking.” He cleared his throat. “My English is not good and she knows little of it as well.”

Father laughed and Mother clasped her hands over her chest in delight. “Oh, that will be wonderful. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to teach someone Gaelic.” 

His father looked at her in mock offense. “And what of Laoise?”

Mother waved her hand dismissively, “Ai, she was born speaking and put her grandfather to shame.”

Cody translated haltingly for Adelle, who was watching them from beneath her eyelashes. “We… stay big home. Learn speak, close to Mother. If alright?”

“Ai, how do you trade with your english that terrible?” Father chuckled. 

“In the proper language.” Cody muttered, feeling himself flush in embarrassment. 

His father shook his head with a smile. “Language is language my son, you shou-“ mother’s elbow cut him off. 

“Pah, English is a terrible language. It tastes like dirt and sounds like someone threw pig slops into their mouth and called it words.” Fiadh announced as she threw herself onto the floor in front of Adelle, her hair down and damp. She wiggled a comb at Adelle in offer, who hesitated uncertainly before taking it and beginning to comb out her red curls, her shoulders slowly relaxing at the action.

Their father sighed. “And that sounds like grandmother. Will I never be free of her?” 

Mother laughed and stood on tiptoe, pulling him down by his sleeve to press a kiss to his mouth. Cody glanced over to see Adelle watching them with a confused furrow between her brows, and wondered if her mother had ever done the same. She noticed him watching and flinched, but spoke carefully and quietly. “Stay here?”

“If you want.” He reassured. “I can… build home for us?” 

“No.” She flinched again and focused on combing out Fiadh’s hair. “Stay here. Please.” She glanced at Laoise and mother. “Uh, women. Like.” 

He nodded easily and rose to speak to mother privately and arrange rooms. He did not want her to be confined to his own room, trapped with him. Perhaps she could move into Mirwa’s old room?

  
  
  


Adelle felt as if she was being moved through a dream, a wash of Gealic surrounding her as the O’Donlin clan swarmed around her, Beth helping her bathe and dress, Fiadh doing her hair, Cody speaking in joking tones with his father, Mirwa and Muire chattering quietly as they cooked. She tried to help, but found herself at a loss as the pair gently, but firmly, had her sit at the large, intricately carved table, speaking over her head as they moved about the kitchen. She twisted her hands nervously, feeling useless and out of place, and Ailbhe set a bowl of apples in front of her with a sharp paring knife with an understanding smile. 

She gratefully began peeling, setting the peels aside in the bucket placed by her feet, and tried to make sense of the dynamics of the house. Everyone treated the father, Del, with deference, but there was no fear. They joked and prodded and Fiadh even silently reached up and… ruffled his hair like a child’s, revealing his pointed ears and making him duck away with an amused protest. None of the men seemed to be in charge, but none of the women did either. They all joked and ordered and listened in turn and Adelle felt lost. 

Her husband fit into the chaos of the clan seamlessly, obediently chopping the apples that she peeled into neat slices, his fingers deft and quick as he performed the women’s work as if he had done it a hundred times before. Ailbhe was rolling out a pastry crust, Aiden was slicing root vegetables, and even the father, Del, was sitting in a chair nearby, spinning with a drop spindle as he looked over the crowd with a contented expression, as if there was no difference between the women and men’s places.

Beth set another steaming cup of tea in front of her, sweetened with a precious spoon of honey, and then a cup in front of Del with a kiss to his forehead. He looked up at her as if she was his sun and Adelle abruptly rose from her seat, needing to get away from the noise, the inhuman giants moving around her and laughing and kissing with sharp knives on their hips, the easy way the dangerous people cooked and carried children as if they did not kill and burn and- Cody said something and for an instant she could see his face covered with Timothy’s blood and she ran. 

She didn’t know where she was going, but she ran, gathering her skirts in her hands as she fled blindly, instinct guiding her to a quiet building that smelled of horses. She climbed up and buried herself in the hay, pressing her hands over her mouth to try and stifle the sound of her sobs as she shook, feeling overwhelmed and so, so small. 

She didn’t know how long she hid there, if they couldn’t find her or just didn’t care to. Eventually, the sounds of someone climbing the ladder made her shrink back into the hay, but Sean’s dark head popped up over the edge and he grinned at her, his front tooth missing, as he slid a covered plate that smelled of food towards her. “Alright.” He said, then followed it up with a few more words she didn’t know. He pressed a hand to his chest and she caught the words ‘quiet’ and ‘stay’ and a questioning expression. 

She nodded, not knowing exactly what he was saying, but unwilling to displease the O’Donlin heir, especially after her outburst at the dinner table. He smiled and hauled himself up into the hay with her, and then dug through the stuff to reveal a small, squirming pile of fur that began mewling when it was exposed. He picked one up and showed it to her with a delighted smile. “na cait!”

He dumped it gently into her hands and delicately touched its tiny, grey striped head. “Cat.” She couldn’t help a smile as the tiny thing mewled and squirmed in her hands. A large black cat jumped up into the loft and began nosing around the tiny creatures, coming over and yowling loudly for the one in her hands. She returned it and watched in fascination as the mother cleaned the baby with her tongue. 

Sean gestured to the mother and babies. “Tyeluck.” Then gestured to her and himself. “Tyeluck?” He reached out and touched the ring on her hand, the flower on her dagger, and then a small carved flower painted gold that hung from a leather string tucked inside his shirt. “Tyeluck?”

The word Beth had made her say in front of the house. Family. She nodded hesitantly. Yes, they were family now. He grinned and pulled the plate closer to her and removed the cloth covering it to reveal roasted meat and vegetables, and a slice of an apple pastry. A rich man’s meal. 

As they ate, his hair fell into his face and he brushed it aside in annoyance and tucked it behind his ear, his perfectly rounded ear. He caught her staring at it, the sight shocking after the revelation of the O’Donlin trait of pointed ears, and he shrugged and said something she didn’t understand.

She fell silent as the light began to dim outside and hugged herself as she realized that she would have to go back in unless one of them came out to drag her in. “Cody… angry?”

Sean blinked at her blankly and she cursed her lack of knowledge of his language. Her father had kept her firmly in the french quarter of the town so she had never begun to pick up the native tongue. Sean seemed to think before breaking out into a smile and digging into his pocket to pull out a small cloth horse. “Uncail Cody… uh, Jahs. Iss mow layaht Uncail Cody?”

‘Iss mow Layaht’. She heard Cody ask that whenever she tried one of his gifts. She believed it meant something along the lines of ‘do you like it?’. So she nodded and gave a small smile at the stuffed toy. The boy somehow grinned wider and hugged her tightly. “Iss mow layem too! Tyeluck!”

She exhaled and let herself hug the boy. Family. One of them. She gathered up what little courage she had left and began to descend the ladder, Sean following agilely with the empty plate in one hand. She felt her breath catch in her throat in terror as she caught sight of the golden giant outside the barn door, brushing down a horse and…  _ glowing _ . Sean said something unconcernedly and took her hand, pulling her with childish enthusiasm towards the house. She caught sight of Fiadh sitting by the barn door, carving nonchalantly, but obviously having been guarding the door. She wondered if she had been protecting her from the anger of the men, or making sure she didn’t run. 

Sean tugged her inside and loudly announced something to the room of people, who all turned to look at her with too many expressions for her to read. Cody was sitting on the floor with Laoise and he jumped to his feet with a shocked and concerned expression and she shrank back, fearing a scolding or a cuff in front of them all. Sean released her hand to go chatter to Muire and she twisted them nervously in front of herself before reminding herself sharply that the habit was annoying and clutching her wrists to still the movement. “I… am sorry.” She said, having heard the apology often enough to know the gaelic phrase. 

Beth stood slowly with a smile and a soft shake of her head, holding her hand out in offer. Adelle cautiously took it, giving Cody O’Donlin a wary look as his mother led her past him and down a hallway. She was led to a large room with a large bed, her trunk set neatly at the foot of it. There was a desk, and rich green curtains over a massive window, empty shelves lining the walls, and lamps lit in each corner of the room. Beth patted her hand. “For you.”

Adelle looked around the room in near awe. It was… amazing. She looked at the large bed uneasily, but Beth patted her hand again and flicked her hand to the door. “Not Cody’s. For you.”

Adelle looked at her in confused panic and Beth smiled and tapped her head, speaking in careful English with a grimace. “I know, Uh, I have been like you. Scared. It alright. You… safe here.”

Beth handed her a key with a smile. “Cody, not have one. Just for you.” With that, the older woman left her in the room, that was apparently just for her, that she was allowed to lock. She wondered what Beth had meant by ‘like you’. Had she been bought as well? Maybe forced into her marriage? She sat on the bed and looked around the beautiful room… her room. 

  
  
  


Cody set Laoise down and excused himself from the room as soon as his mother had led Adelle to her room. Mirwa had been surprised when he had asked for Adelle to have her own room, but Mother had spoken up firmly on the matter. She was scared, in a new place, and needed space to be alone and heal, even from her own husband. Father had given him an approving look and he felt… guilty. This was not how he had wanted to introduce them, he had meant to own up to what he had done, had thought that he had said enough for father to understand.

He stepped out onto the porch to clear his mind and try to find the courage to speak with father again. It had been clear to him that Sean’s words about her feelings for him had been a misunderstanding, the barrier of speech fumbling things. But what could he say? Do? This was how his mother found him, still standing there, trying to find the words to confess, to explain. 

“Ai, sweetling. I can hear your mind turning from the kitchen.” She said gently. “She is resting, safely in her room.” 

“I… I never meant-”

“Hush. I know.” She laughed dryly. “Believe me, I know.” 

He bowed his head, “She’s scared of me. Sean doesn't know what he was saying.” He said in a rush, his chest feeling a little lighter once it was said. 

“Yes. He is young and excited for a new aunt. Do you know why she is so scared of you? I know you have not hurt her.” Mother sat stiffly on the porch, tugging his sleeve so he sat with her. 

“I… I was attacked, two years ago, in the trade town… fae hunters. They… began calling me the black devil.” He admitted softly. “People there, my reputation is honest, but vicious. Our name is feared and respected. I… I found her when her father was beating her for daring to beg him not to whore her out for money.” He clenched his fists at the thought, wishing he had not stayed his hand from the man. “I bought her, right then and there, too angry to think. And then she… she said the options were whore or wife, so I married her, both in her way and ours, to keep her from being ‘ruined’. I thought… I thought she would see I had no intention of hurting her, of using her, but then… on our way home, we were attacked by fae hunters after Fiadh, but also by a group from the town, trying to rescue her from ‘the black devil’. I… didn’t know. I-“ he closed his eyes and allowed his regret to show clearly to her. “I killed her friend in front of her. In her eyes, ‘the black devil’ killed her friend after buying her on the streets and dragging her away from her home.” 

He physically slumped against the railing with relief of finally getting it out. There it was: mother knew. She would make her judgement, tell Father. He then would come to his own judgement and he had only to wait and endure.

“Ai, you poor thing.” She said softly as she hugged him tightly, her head pressing against his chest, and he couldn’t help but hug her back, feeling tears sting his eyes at her acceptance and empathy. “I am proud of you. You saved her, even if she is too frightened to know. You are doing what she needs. In time, she will learn our words, learn she is not a prisoner, not expected to do anything. Until then, you just keep doing what you are, speaking gently, giving her space.” 

“She thinks I will hit her.” He whispered, seeing how often Adelle flinched in his mind’s eye.

“As did I with your father when I yelled at him in the middle of a street.” Mother said with chiding amusement. “Stop taking it personally and let her breathe.” 

He couldn’t help a flat chuckle. “I believe I will throw a party when she yells at me for the first time.” He sighed and tilted his head back to look at the stars. “I always believed your stories about father to be silly, crazy. But now…. I think I can understand.” He closed his eyes. “But you didn’t see him kill a friend.”

“No. Just a group of fae hunters bent on killing me. It… was definitely different. It will take her longer to learn you mean no harm.” She paused, then suggested mildly with a pat on his shoulder as she used it to lever herself to stand. “She looks adorably confused when you are playing with the children.”

He huffed quietly and subtly assisted her. “The devil who plays with children and baby talks to his niece.” He stood as well and looked back through the open door at the stairs. “I do not care if she ever comes to care for me, I can survive. I only wish that she find some happiness here. If she asks, I’ll release her from the marriage, no bond has been formed.”

“Aye. Your father thinks well of you for waiting until she has healed.” Mother huffed. “Your great grandmother once said he has as much sense as a headless fish. But he certainly is pretty.” She smiled at him when he groaned. “We’ll do our best to help her, sweetling. Now go sleep, you‘ve been on guard too long.”

He smiled weakly and nodded. “I will… thank you.”

  
  


Adelle found her new life confusing and oddly freeing. She was allowed to stay locked in her room as much as she wished, food delivered to her door and never a cross word, though Sean and Laoise often knocked and asked if she wanted to play or read. She indulged them, finding the pair useful for learning their language, as well as… comforting. When she did tentatively venture out, she was greeted with smiles and soft words, and allowed to do… whatever she wished. 

She spent most of her time in her room sewing her wedding gift of green wool into a fine cloak, Sean fetching her needles and thread with a mischievous enthusiasm, and after she had heard him chattering to someone outside her door, she began finding spools of colorful threads left outside her door with her supper.

No-one seemed to think twice of the fact that her husband slept in a different room, and even the devil himself seemed content with the arrangement. Just offering small smiles and head tilts when he saw her, often just continuing what he was doing and moving on. He still brought her gifts, leaving bowls of berries and greens by her door, and one day he even brought a little shelf and hung it outside her door so they were not leaving food and things on the floor. But never once did he demand entrance to her room, or make her go to his.

For months this continued, her flitting through the house like a well received ghost, slowly learning their language and figuring out the unspoken rules of the clan. There weren’t many, but what few there were were set in stone. Be kind seemed to be the most important one, and several times she found Sean sitting sullenly in a corner after shouting at Laoise, only allowed to rise after he had apologized to her. It was as foreign to her as their language. There were few cuffs, all of them light and equally distributed, friendly even, but the clan seemed to restrain themselves when she was around, slowing their movements. 

They never demanded she earn her keep either, but instead gave her bright smiles and thanks when she summoned the courage to offer to help. She found she quite liked to spin, and despite her wariness of the glowing patriarch of the clan, she found many peaceful hours spinning quietly in his bright, open weaving room. Del was a quiet man, his eyes seeming ancient and gentle despite the way they glowed in dim light. He seemed content to let her be, only speaking when she asked a question.

It was during one such day that she saw Mirwa leading Sean into the woods, bows strapped to their backs. She felt her heart ache in fear for the boy, fearing his loss of innocence at his apparent training into one of the deadly members of the O’Donlin clan. She found herself uneasy and wary when she saw him returning that evening, dried brown blood smeared across his face and a heavy deer’s corpse dragged behind Mirwa. In his arms was a small form, a fawn, and she felt sick that they had made him kill the small creature.

But he quietly stepped inside the house and laid the small form in front of the hearth, wrapping a towel around it gently and fetching goat’s milk for it. It was alive. She cautiously knelt by the boy and pointed at the fawn in question.

He sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I- I took it’s mother away. Didn’t look. We have meat now, but I need to care for it in return.” He looked up at her with wide, earnest eyes stark against the blood dried on his face. “I will be more careful next time.” 

She was about to hug him when his father, Ailbhe, walked in. “You will, because you will have learned to respect life.” He gave her a small smile in greeting before moving to kneel by his son, placing his large hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Your Aunt Mirwa told me you were excited, but we can’t kill does that are nurturing life; without them there will be none for the next year. There is a balance we must always be aware of. You took this little one’s mother, who would have taught it to survive and replenish what we took the year before. Now you must do it for her and you will learn from your mistake.” 

Sean nodded solemnly and wrapped the fawn more securely. “Yes, father.”

She stood quietly and left to let them have their time, but the incident settled oddly in her stomach, their reputation contrasting sharply with what she experienced here. What kind of people could be gentle enough to care for wild creatures yet carry reputations that make men fear them? And what of the Devil? 

She found herself brave enough to try and follow Cody, trying to see if he also followed his family’s ways. Well, maybe not follow, but… not leave when he entered a room. He seemed to be a healer, a revelation that shocked her to her core. He had a little building further away on the property where he mixed herbs and poultices that Fiadh took to the nearby town to sell. One night, a rider came thundering up to the house during supper, shouting about needing help. Something about his wife. Cody and Muire had jumped from the table, grabbing bags and rushing out the door. They had not returned till the evening of the next day, both exhausted but triumphant as they stumbled in. “Twin boys, both healthy and the mother did well.”

Cody smiled as he dropped exhaustedly into a chair, his head tipped backwards as if he would fall asleep right there. Adelle was startled when Beth gave her two cups of tea to hold and smiled before rushing off to tend to something outside. 

Muire smiled brightly and took one of the cups with a grateful ‘thank you’, leaving her with one steaming cup and standing awkwardly as she left the room, saying something about checking on Sean.

Cody hadn’t moved from the chair, just breathing slowly, looking exhausted. She hesitantly stepped towards him, and the quiet movement made his eyes fly open. She flinched at having disturbed him, but still offered the tea to him. He slowly took it with an exhausted smile and a quiet, “Thank you.” 

“Wh-what happened?” she dared ask, hugging herself for support. 

He took a sip of the tea and rubbed his eyes. “Woman in town was pregnant and her time came. Muire said there were two, so I went to help in case they got stuck. Sometimes I have to cut them out and I’m the only one in miles that can sew the mother back together so she lives.” His eyes widened and he looked at her as if afraid. “I don’t hurt them.”

It was strange to see him looking at her as if… as if he were afraid… that she would what? Scold him? What would he do if she even did? She shook the confusion from her mind and instead tentatively offered a fumbling story in his language, feeling proud that she had learned the words for it so quickly, as well as grieved at the memory. “My mother, she had a child that got stuck. They both died. I… I’m glad you know how to fix that.” 

He closed his eyes and bowed his head. “I’m sorry you lost them.”

She bit her lip before blurting out the horrible, horrible secret thought that she never shared with anyone. “I’m glad they both died. Father couldn’t hurt them.” She paled, suddenly feeling like a horrible person now that she had said it aloud and turned and ran, unwilling to see what the devil thought of that. 

No footsteps followed her as she ran to her room, no one knocked on her door demanding an explanation. No one. And she suddenly felt much lighter, the words she had said in her heart for years were now free and it was liberating. Her father couldn’t hurt them. Couldn’t hurt her. They were free… she was free.


	2. Chapter 2

The first year came and went, Sean cared for and released the young doe he raised, though it wandered back every once in a while to the point they had to fence their garden with high stakes and wire to keep it out. Sean however would sneak it cuts of apples when it would show up on the steps of the house, much to Mothers amused exasperation. He never shot any more does after that and took to braiding a yellow string into its tail so the others didn’t harm it by accident. His father would only smile and indulged him. 

Cody found himself watching for flashes of yellow when he was out riding, finding the symbol of his nephew’s kind heart uplifting. It was drawing close to another trip to the trade city, and Cody was dreading it. Mirwa had agreed to accompany him, reluctantly, but she had agreed she would fare better away from the farm than Ailbhe would and Fiabh was heading off on her own route. Aiden was quite happily staying with Laoise and continuing working on his poetry.

Adelle had come far, though she still flinched around him, she seemed lighter, sometimes humming quietly as she spun yarn, or laughing with the children. Quietly, but still there. And she would sometimes speak to him, a few words here and there. Quiet, timid, but she would speak to him. 

He waited until he could wait no longer before finding her. She was in the garden, carefully pulling caterpillars off of the potato plants to feed to the chickens, a task that she was oddly fond of. She loved the chickens, even the awful rooster. He made sure to rattle the gate lightly to catch her attention before entering, and then moved so that she could leave without having to move past him if she wished. “May I speak with you?” He asked softly, making sure to give a small smile as he did. Mirwa said he had ‘a natural angry face’ and should make a more conscious effort to smile around Adelle. 

She stood, her little basket of caterpillars clutched to her chest, but nodded hesitantly.

“I… I have to go back to the town… we met at. To trade. Um. Mirwa is travelling with me, and I… wanted to know if you wanted to go with us?” He winced at how unsure he sounded but there was no helping it.

She paled. “You… you’re sending me back?” She looked increasingly panicked by the heartbeat. “No, please! I can- Is it because I don’t act like a proper wife? I can- I will-”

He blinked then shook his head vehemently. “No!” He winced at how loud he had spoken in his haste and continued softly. “No, I just… wanted to know if you wanted to go back… to visit… see old friends? You… you don’t have to do anything.”

She slumped in relief, then looked away. “I… don’t have any friends there anymore.” 

He felt like a knife had been twisted in his gut and broken off at the hilt. Of course, because he had killed him.

She fidgeted before speaking timidly. “Is… do you want me to go with you?”

“I want you to do what you want, not what I want.”

“Oh.” She frowned, then tentatively nodded. “I’d… like to go. See… I’d like to go.” She lifted her chin as if expecting him to disagree. “Can… I stop? On the way? To, uh… visit… him?” 

He bowed his head and nodded. He could not, would not deny her that. “Yes, if that is what you wish.” Again she would be reminded of his ‘brutality’. “We leave in a few days, if you want to pack?”

She nodded and moved towards the gate, pausing with her hand on the latch to look at him over her shoulder. “Thank you.” 

  
  
  


Adelle couldn’t help the excited dread coiling in her gut the entire week preceding the trip. Part of her was excited to see the town, see how it had changed, see how she had changed, but part of her dreaded being back where ‘Le Diable Noir’ reigned, feared that he might change his mind and leave her there, or that he might go back to curt words and pulling her where he wanted to place her. She did not really think he would, if she had learned one thing of the O’Donlins, it was that they did not let go of what they thought was theirs, and that the O’Donlin women were fierce in their protection. 

She might fear the inhuman giants still, but she… she was happy with them. Happier than she ever remembered being, and she hoped that Cody still thought of her as his, even if they still had not consummated that ownership, that he would not leave her in the town. Mirwa was in low spirits the day they left, barking orders to the hired men and stalking about with her bow and arrows ready on her back. She always gentled herself when she saw Adelle, but it was obvious she was not happy. 

Adelle tentatively approached the giantess, pulling her wedding cloak around her shoulders tightly. “Are… you alright?”

Mirwa sighed and nodded as she checked the tethers holding a chest to a wagon bed. “Yes. I just… I don’t like leaving my girl, my at- my man, my forest.” She breathed deeply and laughed lightly. “Crossing the boundary stones makes me feel… itchy.” 

“Then… why?” If there was one thing she knew of the O’Donlin women, it was that they never did a thing they did not want to, to the point of wrestling their brothers and husbands into the dust to avoid an unsavory chore. 

Mirwa shrugged. “Cody needs back up. He doesn’t want another fight, thinks another woman will make him seem less… dangerous.”

Adelle looked over all six and more than a half feet of lean muscle and armed to the teeth Mirwa and cocked an eyebrow. “Ah yes. You are certainly… unthreatening.” 

Mirwa laughed. “Aye, I don’t know what he is thinking.”

Adelle smiled s hyly at the good reception her joke had met and moved off to find her place in the caravan. Fiadh was heading hers across the path, somehow ordering her hires without words. The redhead caught her looking and smiled sharply before striding towards her. Adelle lifted her chin, the gesture always making the strange woman grin in earnest. Fiadh bared her teeth in a smile and dropped to one knee to touch the knife she carried at her waist at all times. That was one of the unspoken O’Donlin rules. Always carry your knife, even to the outhouse. 

The redhead looked her straight in the eye, keeping her fingers lightly on the hilt, and Adelle nodded her understanding. She was allowed, no, expected to use it on anyone who touched her without her permission. Even Fiadh’s own brother. Even Fiadh herself. Fiadh smiled and chucked her chin before striding back to her own caravan, pointing imperiously at one of the hires and then to the road. Adelle watched her caravan slowly begin to roll out, Fiadh sitting like a queen atop her red horse. She wondered if it was possible for her to ever be as strong, as brave as fearless Fiadh. 

Probably not, she thought as she flinched when Cody walked into her line of sight. He paused, looking sad, then altered his path so he did not walk too close to her. She heard Ailbhe shout and turned to see him leading two black horses from his barn, a large black stallion with feathered legs, and a fine boned black mare with white socks, both saddled for travel. “Ai! Do not leave without your mounts! I need them tested for stamina!”

Cody groaned and leaned his head against the side of a wagon. “Ailbhe, you are not helping! What about the gold one? Or the brown one? Any of the others besides the black ones?”

Ailbhe shrugged, unconcerned. “These are the ones I need tested. These are the ones you take.” He tossed the reins of the stallion to Cody, and then led the mare to her. “Here you go. She’s even tempered, shouldn’t give you any problems.”

Adelle blinked at him in surprise. Fiadh had made sure she learned to ride and care for a horse, but for Ailbhe to trust her with one of his precious horses… “I… will take good care of her.”

“Ai. If she does well on the trip you can name her.” He smiled gently at her and patted the mare’s neck before clasping Cody’s shoulder and heading back to his fields. 

There was a quiet swarm of goodbyes, embraces and tears for Cody and Mirwa, and gentle smiles and gifts for her, and then she was in the saddle and Cody was leading the caravan down the pathway. She took a deep breath and nudged the mare with her heels. She could do this. 

  
  
  
  


The trip was going much better than Cody had feared. Despite an unfortunate broken axle barely three days away, the caravan was moving quickly and without too many problems. Mirwa was cranky beyond believe, but Adelle seemed to have made it her personal mission to cheer up his homesick sister. She was so intent on her task that sometimes she forgot to flinch when he laughed at one of her jokes as well. She had a surprisingly sharp sense of humor.

She did not wait for the end of the trip before she named the mare Ailbhe had given her. He heard her as she rubbed the mare’s neck the first night before they sat down to eat. “Belle Noir, it suits you, I think. Black and beautiful. But Belle for short.”

Cody smiled and moved away, still unnoticed, to give her her space with the mare. It was the first time he had ever heard her speak without fear and resolved to pay Ailbhe for the mare no matter how it fared on the trip. It would be hers. 

She shared the back of a wagon with Mirwa at night. He contented himself to sleep in a roll when the weather was fair, and at the foot of the wagon bed they slept in when it was not. Besides the normal wheel breaks and lame horses that came with a caravan, one of the problems he had not anticipated was keeping the hired men away from her and their appearance of estrangement had not seemed to help either. Some of them had even grown bold enough to try and ride next to her, though most backed off when she would quickly go silent and ride up next to Mirwa. He knew she was beautiful, knew that she was growing more beautiful as she gained health and learned to smile, but he had somehow not predicted that she would catch atan eyes. The problem had not come up before, either in the town where people were terrified of him, or on the trip home alone, or at home, with just his family. 

Not one week into the trip and there had been an incident while he had been scouting ahead, where one of the hired men had cornered Adelle at camp one night, leaning in close to talk while she shrank back. He had reached to touch her hair, smiling pleasantly, but had kept reaching for her even after she flinched and lifted a hand to shield her face. Mirwa had reached him before he had, and had quickly whipped her knife out to score a line across his cheek. He returned moments after and had fired the man on the spot, sending him away, still bleeding, while Mirwa comforted the shaking Adelle after telling him what had happened.

It had been his fault he knew, he should have checked his hires’ characters before this trip, but he had never needed to before this. He had always simply refused to hire the marked men before. That night he pulled the remaining hires aside and told them in no uncertain terms that he would maim any and all who touched Adelle or Mirwa. They believed him. At times the reputation of The Black Devil could be a boon.

He waited until she had stopped trembling before quietly approaching her and gently speaking. “If a man touches you without your permission, use your knife. That is what it is for. A man with a line across his face is not to be trusted.” She had nodded slowly, looking at him with a perplexed expression before moving off to prepare for bed. 

He made sure to keep a better eye on her after that, sending sharp looks at any of the hires that looked at her too lingeringly. 

The next morning he escorted Adelle to the grave of her friend, Timothy. When they drew near, he stood back respectfully as she knelt by the oak sapling Fiadh had planted to mark the grave and whispered words in her native tongue over her clasped hands. She cried silently over him, but straightened her spine and lifted her chin as she stood, as Fiadh had taught her to, and walked back to her mount without even looking at him. 

He could not blame her. 

The next few days after that she still refused to look at him. It was Mirwa who broke her out of her refusal to acknowledge his presence by somehow getting her to sit next to him at meals. How she had done it he didn’t know, but he took the opportunity to refill her tea cup and coffee at each meal when she ran out. She would offer up a quiet thank you, her brow furrowed in subtle confusion. He didn’t dare ask what she was thinking. She was speaking to him, however little it was, but he would take it.

Throughout the rest of the journey she grew steadily bolder, at one point asking what kind of bird she had seen was. He had been happy to tell her, and even happier to find a fallen feather from the same bird, a dunnock, to bring to her while he was out checking for fae hunters or bandits.

She had given him the tiniest of smiles before asking Mirwa to show her how she braided feathers into her hair. Seeing the speckled brown feather in her hair made him feel… satisfied. Small steps, he kept reminding himself. Small steps to healing. Small steps to trust. He would be content with that.

  
  
  


Adelle felt like her stomach was caught in her throat as they paraded into town after a full month on the road. She was riding next to Mirwa, following Cody into the town with their caravan following behind her, and the suddenness in which the crowded streets emptied before them was a brutal reminder that this was The Black Devil’s domain. She could feel people staring, some pointing at her and Mirwa did not understand why she was attracting so much attention until they passed by the glass front of a new store and caught sight of her reflection.

She looked… like a queen. The Black Devil’s queen. She was sitting straight and regal on a fine blooded black horse, her wedding dagger and ring glinting in the sunlight and her wedding cloak falling about her beautifully. Mirwa had braided her hair up in intricate braids with flowers and her feather woven into them out of boredom on the long road, and they looked like a heathen crown. Lord, how she had changed… 

Cody and Mirwa were a flurry of shouts and directions as they arranged their caravan, stabling horses, renting rooms, arranging stalls, everything that needed organizing for an extended stay in the town. Adelle tried to stay out of the way, while still staying close. She attracted far too many eyes now to feel comfortable wandering alone, and the violent way that Mirwa, Fiadh, and even Cody expected her to react to being touched made her feel… helpless. She didn’t know if she could, and she did not want The Black Devil to blood his sword again because someone had touched what was his. Or… punish her for allowing it to happen. She had heard his threat to the other men concerning her, she doubted he realized she could, but she had. Part of her was grateful for it, the other men left her alone, but another part whispered that she was his and the thought still chilled her. Better to avoid the whole matter. 

Evening was falling by the time the activity had settled, and she felt tears touch her eyes at the sounds of long missed church bells. Cody looked at her in concern. “What is wrong?”

“Ai, I just… miss my…” She frowned, not having a word for church in his tongue. “My house of God.” 

His face cleared, and she feared she’d angered him. “Ah. Do you want to go?” He offered earnestly. 

She blinked, shocked that the heathen would offer to allow her, and nodded before she realized he might be upset she still followed her God and not his. He smiled gently. “I can take-” He paused. “Or I can ask Mirwa to take you.” He paused again and frowned. “Or if you want to go by yourself…”

“You… would accompany me?” It felt unreal. Le Diable Noir taking her to church. 

He nodded. “Yes. Do you need… offerings? Uh, I don’t really know how you worship your god. Mine are easily pleased.”

“Offerings? I don’t… I don’t have any money.” Why was he being so… nice? It wasn’t his God.

He pulled his money purse out of his shirt and poured out a handful of coins, far more than she had ever seen at one time before. He frowned at it before offering it to her. “Is that enough?”

“Good God, that’s too much!” She breathed, this could not be happening, he would trust her with this amount? For a God he did not even worship?

He gave her a wry smile. “You’re my… wife. You need an offering for your god, it is my responsibility to make sure you have it and you have been away.” 

Responsibility. She tried to hide the sudden shaking of her hand as she accepted the coin. She had not been performing her responsibility as a wife. Was this his ultimatum? Allow her to worship only if she fulfilled hers? He had given her a year already. It was only to be expected that he would expect more now. 

She half expected him to lay out his terms, But Cody only moved to speak quietly with Mirwa, who nodded and walked off, before he returned to her. “I don’t know where it is.”

She nodded and hesitantly began walking, feeling shaky relief when he simply fell into step beside her, out of arm’s reach. She stopped in front of the familiar, small church, feeling frozen. She was the Devil’s wife now. Would she be allowed in?

“Miss Brod- Madam O’Donlin?” The priest stood from where he had been tending to the small plot of herbs, speaking in her long since heard French. “Praise the Lord, you look well!”

“Father.” She smiled hesitantly at him, her mother tongue feeling awkward from disuse. “I… I’ve come to confess, if… if you will allow me.” 

“Of course!” He glanced at Cody uncertainly. “And you?”

Cody seemed to understand and shook his head as he replied in Gealic. “Sorry, sir, it’s her god, not mine. I’m just here to make sure she is safe.” 

She translated for the priest who gave her a sad smile. “Praise the Lord that he is willing to allow you to follow God’s ways.” 

“Amen.” She whispered and followed the priest inside. She bought and lit a candle each for mother, for her sibling, for Timothy, and then went to confession. The act was as cathartic as she remembered, and though she wept, how she wept, she found herself feeling lighter, cleaner, when the priest gave her her penance, and promised to make time to find and consecrate Timothy’s grave. His eyebrows rose in shock when she made her donation, and she blushed. “He… he gave it to me for an offering.”

“May this be a sign of his eventual path to the Lord.” The priest murmured. He hesitated before asking. “Have… how have you been?”

“His family is… strange, but kind to me. I… find myself content.” She smiled. “His mother and sisters have welcomed me, his nephew and niece have taught me his language, and his father taught me to spin. I am well.” 

He nodded and patted her arm with a prayer of blessing, and she left the church to find Cody leaning against the wall, picking dirt from beneath his nails as his dark eyes scanned the dimming streets, a small pile of pulled weeds laying beside the now neat herb beds. He straightened slowly when he saw her, giving her a hesitant look. “All is well?”

“All is well.” 

He nodded, looking relieved, then glanced at the sky. “Are you hungry? Stew at the inn isn’t very good at this time.” At her nod he gestured to the streets. “Anywhere you like, I’ll pay.”

Why was he being so generous? The gifts, the offerings, letting her choose where they ate? And never once demanding his right. Was he waiting for her to offer out of guilt? She chased the thoughts away. If she was allowed, she wanted crepes. She nodded and dropped her eyes, then remembered Fiadh’s lessons and lifted her chin again as she walked the familiar streets of the French quarter to the old man who sold crepes, the devil in her shadow.

The old man was cleaning the counter when she walked in and he barely glanced up. “We’re about to close.”

“Sorry, I can return tomorrow.” She apologized quietly, wondering if he would remember her. Had she changed that much?

He looked up, and then his eyes widened with realization. “Miss Brod- Madame O’Donlin. I hadn’t thought to see you again! I barely recognize you!” He glanced at Cody uneasily before straightening. “How can I help you?”

Cody looked away from the door at being addressed and frowned, muttering in his gaelic. “Uh, would you mind ordering for us, Adelle? I will pay.” 

She nodded obediently. “Two of the usual? If you please?” 

The crepe vendor fell silent and cooked and served the crepes, casting uneasy looks at Cody, who seemed to be ignoring him until it was time to pay. Adelle felt a pang of loss at the absence of the man’s easy chatter, the reputation of the devil silencing him. Cody paid and they left, and she found herself watching the ground in front of her as they walked to the inn, eating as they travelled. 

At the inn, they were greeted by the owner’s wife who accepted Cody’s bag of coins without counting and handed him a key with promises of seeing to it his hires had places to sleep. She followed him out of habit, sticking close to avoid the stares of the few townspeople drinking in the main area. She suddenly felt the blood drain from her face as he opened a door and revealed a familiar room and ushered her inside. 

‘Responsibilities’. So it was a trade after all, one she had unwittingly accepted by going into the church. She closed her eyes and tried to force herself not to start shaking as she heard the sounds of him stripping the bed. He had given her a year. That was more than anyone had a right to ask but he had given her that. 

She jumped when she heard the door open behind her, and whirled to come face to chest with Mirwa, who looked down at her with a slowly darkening expression. Mirwa tsked and glared at Cody. “Is there a reason Adelle looks like she’s about to pass out at the sight of me, oh brilliant brother of mine?” 

Cody froze and looked at her with wide eyes before wincing. “Shit. I’m sorry, Adelle. We can’t have separate rooms, it isn’t safe. So we’re all sharing a room. I’m on the floor, and you and Mirwa were going to share the bed, if that’s alright.” He looked upset but it wasn’t directed at her. “Gods, I’m sorry.”

She felt herself breathe, when had she stopped? Mirwa touched her shoulder gently. “Ai, child. You’ll have to forgive him. I’m afraid he takes after his father and has more looks than sense.” 

Cody frowned and shook his head but didn’t look angry his sister’s words as he went about his self appointed task of making the bed. 

Adelle watched him remake the bed with blankets they had packed and looked at Mirwa in question. Mirwa shrugged and pulled her boots off. “Our ears and noses are sensitive. Atan blankets, especially inn ones, smell of bodies and smoke, and they itch.”

She hadn’t thought of that but it made sense, Laoise complained when her ear rubbed something wrong or she had to wear a hat, and Del was adamant about frequent baths for everyone. She looked over at Cody’s hair, which he had tied back in a way his hair still covered his ears, the way he had when she first saw him. At home, he kept it braided back away from them unless he rode into town. How uncomfortable was he like that if his ears were so sensitive that even blankets irritated?

“Why do you hide them?” She blurted out, feeling safer with Mirwa in the room. She knew they were deadly enough that they could slay any trouble the sight of them caused. She had… she had seen them kill ten armed men without more than a few scratches. 

“Hmm?” Both O’Donlins looked at her in confusion and she flinched back, appalled at her own boldness.

“Hide what?”

She fidgeted. “Your… ears.”

Cody snorted. “Because unlike Fiadh, I don’t like getting into fights every few hours. I prefer to keep them hidden and avoid the bloodshed.” He sighed and rolled out his travel roll onto the ground in front of the fireplace. “I have enough trouble as it is.”

“Maybe if you smiled more, people wouldn’t think you were the big bad devil.” Mirwa laughed as she let her hair down.

Cody gave her a flat look. “If I smile, I can’t pry the women off of me with a stick, and then their husbands want to fight me.”

“Mm. True. You would not believe how many faces I have to mark when I go out in public.” Mirwa groused and flopped onto the bed. Adelle stared at the pair, not usually privy to their sibling banter as Mirwa spent most of her time in the trees or at her own house, and Mirwa cocked an eyebrow at her. “You can come to bed if you want, I don’t bite.”

  
  
  


Trade was going well. Cody had been right, the presence of another woman, even one as tall and cranky as Mirwa, had helped soothe things. Adelle’s face had been priceless when he had handed her the crate full of the yarns she had spun during the year with the comment that they were hers to sell, and that the coin they earned was hers. Mirwa had helped her set up her own private stall and stood guard over her while he tended to his own trading. Adelle had a sharp mind for haggling, using her soft voice and large eyes to good use to weedle an extra coin from those interested in her yarns.

At the end of the day she had tried to present the coin she had earned to him, and again she looked pleasantly stunned when his first reaction had been a confused assurance that it was hers. He had a feeling she did not think herself allowed to have her own money, perhaps her father had taken anything she had made. But he gave her her own lockbox and coin purse to keep what she earned in, and he caught her one morning staring at her small collection of coin in perplexed awe. 

He ended up escorting her to the church once a week while they were there, amusing himself by tending to the small gardens outside or mending the benches and fence while he waited for her to finish her worship. Once he even picked up a pot of paint to repaint the fading shutters, probably an overstep, but Adelle’s god deserved a well tended house and the priest had looked pleased when he had seen. He collected dark glares from the people coming in and out, the Black Devil haunting the house of their god, but he ignored them quietly. He didn’t mind the time or wait, her face when she left the small, white building was peaceful for hours afterwards and he was happy she could find a few hours of serenity. Perhaps she would like to walk the ward lines with them this year. She had stayed locked in her room last time. 

The caravan slowly dwindled in size, the goods the town at home paid him to transport disappearing just as fast as his father’s fabrics and his own medicines. He sold the wagons as they were emptied, and the animals that had gone lame on the trip. Adelle seemed pleased when he donated the money from the horses to the orphanage, and shocked when he explained it was because Ailbhe had adopted Sean. 

All in all, the trip was going well and he was looking forward to travelling home. 

  
  
  


Adelle had money of her own. Even after donating to the church and buying more candles, she still had a heavy purse. Hers. What was she to do with that much coin? She hadn’t realized that her idle spinning during the year had been set aside as her own labor. And she was allowed to keep what she earned. Her heart raced with the possibilities. Even when it was offered to him, Cody refused to take any, and he still paid for their supper and necessities even though she now had her own coin. 

Still without demanding his due, though she half suspected the snoring form of his sister sprawled across the bed kept anything like that firmly at bay. 

But she had coin. Coin he did not take to drink, coin he seemed not to care how she spent. She had bought a pie in front of him, a frivolous purchase, a test to see if he would claim she could not be trusted with the money. But he had not even frowned, only asked if she liked the type. 

And so it was with a racing heart and the heady realization that if she was allowed to keep the coin from her own labor, she could do… almost anything. And what she wanted was a gift for Sean and Laoise. She had bought a pair of wooden bracelets for Laoise and was looking at the collection of pocket knives that might interest Sean when a voice she had long put out of her mind rang out, making her shrink instinctively.

“Adelle! There you are girl, looking rich as the king’s whore!” her father had not fared well in her absence, looking haggard and dirty and gaunt, his eyes and nose red from drink.

“Father.” Adelle lifted her chin, trying to not look like the man frightened her. She was the Devil’s wife. Her actions reflected on him, and she did not dare tarnish his blood bought reputation. 

“Look at you. Thought I’d heard wrong when they said the Devil married you instead of just taking his money’s worth.” 

She paled at his callous words, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Cody stalking towards her, his face dark and his hand hovering over his sword. He was angry. “Father, don’t.”

“You got coin to spare now that you’re a rich man’s bitch, don’t you? Give it here.”

She saw her father’s hand reach towards her arm as if he was moving slowly, each moment stretched out like taffy. He would grab her, touch what was not his. Would touch O’Donlin’s wife with the intent to take her coin. Le Diable Noir would strike him down for daring to accost what was his, for daring to take from an O’Donlin. 

She reacted, Fiadh’s lessons moving her hand before her mind caught up with the realization that if she did not punish him then Cody would. And as much as she hated the disgusting old man, she did not want him killed. She pulled her wedding dagger, the gold flower on the hilt glinting in the sun as she whipped it forward, raking it across her father’s face to score a line across his cheek, exactly as Mirwa had shown her. He stepped back with an angry, pained cry and she made her chin stay up, her voice to stay steady. Cold. Proud as the wife of the Black Devil should be. 

“I am not yours to touch. You already received your coin for me.” She felt Cody loom over her shoulder and forced herself not to flinch as her father glared at her and staggered back, his hand clutched to his cheek. She forced herself to remain cold. To remain steady as she pointed at the small carving knife with a yellow dyed handle. “How much for that one?” 

The vendor said a price, that while a bit high, was not too much, and she ignored his wide eyed glances flicked over her shoulder, where she knew Cody loomed, and paid for the knife. Then she turned and looked up at Cody. Kept her voice calm. Offered him a smile and a touch on the arm. “I will be at our room. I wish to rest.” 

She kept up her facade as she walked away from him, the crowd parting before her like they did for Cody. She kept up her facade as Mirwa fell into step at her shoulder, shadowing her up into their room at the inn. She kept up her facade until the door was shut firmly behind her, and then she fell to the floor with a shuddering sob.

She had drawn a blade on her own father, something she would have never dared do a year ago, something only an O’Donlin woman would do. Was she was now truly La Diable Noir’s wife in the eyes of everyone? She had marked him, in front of everyone, and then had… had finished her shopping while he bled. 

“Ai, Adelle. Are you alright?” Mirwa asked gently as the giant O’Donlin woman knelt in front of her. “Is it okay to hug you?” 

She couldn’t speak, didn’t trust her voice. But at that moment she desperately wanted the contact, wanted the assurance that everything would be alright. So she nodded slowly, hesitantly. Instantly she was pulled into Mirwa’s arms, her face tucked into her shoulder as she made soothing shushing noises into her hair. She cried into Mirwa’s shoulder as the inhuman woman murmured softly. “I’m so proud of you. You did well. All will be well. No-one can touch you if you don’t want them to. You’re safe.” 

  
  
  


Cody watched over Adelle as she walked to the inn until Mirwa took over with a silent glance, promising to watch over her. He let her, knowing that as soon as Adelle’s brave mask fell she would want someone she was not terrified of. He felt a definite sense of pride for her, for her courage in facing down the man who had beaten her into the timid shell she was, for lifting her chin and drawing her knife and saying, ‘no’. 

As soon as they were both out of sight he turned and stalked towards the pitiful form that dared claim to be her father, grabbing the drunk by the back of his collar and bodily hauling him to the center of the street, knocking away the pitted knife the beast pulled in a pitiful attempt to stop him, absently noting the crack of bone in the drunk’s hand. Cody couldn’t bring himself to regret it, and the brute was so intoxicated he doubted he felt it.

“Some of you are new to our lands, so let me explain what this means.” He grabbed the man’s face and forcibly tilted it so the cut was visible. “This mark, this scar, means that the person who bears it is dishonorable. That they do not respect women, that they dare touch what is not theirs to touch. Our women carry our blades for this very purpose, to reveal the scum of the earth to everyone’s eyes.” 

He dropped the drunk, who scrabbled away on the ground, and shook his hands out as if he could rid himself of the stench. “Do not touch a woman who does not want it, and do not treat with a man who bears a marked face.” 

He could tell the difference between the people raised in his homeland and the strangers by the way they listened to his quiet statement, some nodding in agreement and others whispering in shock. “It is right to protect our women by shunning those they mark as a danger.” With that he turned and walked back to his stall. He had said his piece, they would do with it what they will. 

Most of the cloths and threads had been sold so he did another blind auction to be rid of what was left. He barely recalled the price only that he took payment blindly and returned to the inn as soon as he could. They would leave in the morning, he did not care if it was early. Fiadh would know, would meet him as usual anyway. He had to get her away from these people, this town. 

He reached the room and made himself stop at the door and knock, gently. He heard a quiet shuffling inside, and then Mirwa slowly opened the door for him.

“Is it okay for me to come in?” He asked. Mirwa looked behind her and repeated the question to Adelle, who must have nodded for his sister opened the door wide enough for him to slip in. Adelle was sitting on the bed, the blankets wrapped around her and her face tear stained. She looked at him with a wide eyed expression and Mirwa elbowed him with a hissed, ‘stop scowling’. 

He gave her an exaggerated grin, pushing his mouth upwards with his fingers, and was rewarded with the tiniest snort of amusement from Adelle. He gave her a genuine smile of relief and moved to sit on the floor in front of her with enough space that he didn’t crowd her. “Are you alright?” Marking her own father could not have been easy for her.

Again she looked surprised but immediately dropped her gaze and nodded slowly before shaking her head. 

He nodded in understanding. “I plan on returning home tomorrow…. Do…. do you want to go with me?” The blood drained from her face and she gave him and Mirwa a panicked look. He realized that she had been worried he would send her back when he offered to take her here, and rushed to reassure her. “It’s your choice, Adelle! If you want to stay, you can stay, if you want to go back with us, you can go back with us.” 

Her shoulders slumped in relief and she spoke very quietly. “With you… please.”

He couldn’t help his own breath of relief before he gave her a gentle smile. “You don’t have to ask, Adelle. You are always welcome. You’re… family.” She seemed to ponder his words before he quietly cleared his throat. “Would you like to go back to your gods’ house? We won’t make another trip until next year… unless you wish to.” He amended quickly.

She seemed to think deeply on it, expressions flashing across her face quickly before she nodded hesitantly. “Yes. I… another candle for… Yes.” 

He smiled and stood slowly, gently holding out his hand in a gesture of offer. “Would you like me or Mirwa to take you?”

She looked at his hand before determination flashed over her features, and it was a beautiful sight, before reaching out and grasping his hand. “You… Father Jacque is starting to like you, I think.”

He couldn’t help the blush at her soft teasing. “Ai. It was the shutters, wasn’t it?”

“Possibly the garden, he hates weeding… would pay me to do it… before.” She hesitated, before blurting out her next words like a confession. “I would take the snails and caterpillars and feed them to the neighbor’s chickens.” 

He smiled, suddenly her fondness for the chickens at home making sense. “I’d wager they miss their treats. If you would like, while you go in I can gather some for you?”

She twisted her hand in her skirt before making that beautiful determined expression again. “Or you could come in with me. If you want.” 

He blinked, stunned at the invitation. She was willing to let him into her house of god? Her small island of peace? She was looking down and nervous so he quickly agreed. “I… yes. I would be honored if you allowed me to visit your house of god.” 

She looked stunned before she smiled and actually began pulling on his hand as she scrambled from the bed and began to walk and he moved with her before she could realize and pull away. Mirwa had a devious expression as she wiggled her eyebrows over the top of Adelle’s head. “I’ll just wrap some things up here.” 

  
  


Adelle felt confused yet excited. He was going to church with her. He had  _ offered _ to take her one last time before the trip home, and then said he was… honored. Honored. Had he been waiting for an invitation? She realized that she didn't know how he worshipped his gods, didn’t know if he had been waiting to be allowed. What if the Devil had been waiting outside because he thought he was forbidden? He had been quite respectful of the church, tending to the grounds and fixing things while he waited. Her heart flipped at the thought that maybe, just maybe her own God might not be as forbidden to her as she had thought.

She felt even lighter than when she had confessed her horrible thoughts about losing her mother and sibling to him. She had stood up to her father, and had walked away with… well, with pride. And then she had been accepted, praised by her sister inlaw, and even the Devil seemed proud of her. It felt strange, to have her own coin, and her own dagger, and a family of deadly giants that seemed willing to care for her for no other reason than she was theirs. His unexpected offer to allow her to visit the church one last time had emboldened her to dare invite him in, and now… and now she was bringing the Devil to church.

He hesitated when they reached the door of the church, looking at her nervously. “Still alright?” 

She nodded and he opened the door for her then stepped inside as if worried he would be suddenly forced out. When nothing happened he gave a relieved sigh and smiled. Sometimes… sometimes he was really odd. She led him to the altar, and then flushed a deep crimson when she realized his hand was still in hers, that she had taken him here by the hand without realizing. She could see the priest staring at her with raised eyebrows as she knelt to the Holy Mother and crossed herself respectfully.

Cody watched her closely, then surprised her by dropping to one knee and mimicking the action exactly. She realized she was staring at him when he shifted uncertainly. “If… if I’m not allowed to do something… will you tell me?” 

He sounded so unsure and it seemed so… wrong on him… the uncertainty. This was La Diable Noir. Fierce and feared. Confident and towering over men. Not kneeling on a church floor and looking to her for direction. But she nodded in agreement and he gave her a relieved smile as they rose to greet the priest. 

The priest who was staring at them as if he could not believe his eyes, but he smiled genuinely and gave her a lit candle before speaking in French. “It is good to see you… both of you.” He gave her a kind smile before moving away to give them privacy. 

She moved to the by-altar and bought candles for those she lost, Cody watching her intently. "What…" He hesitated. "What are those for?"

"They are prayers, to help…" She didn't have words to explain in his tongue. "Help the ones I've lost to the life after death." 

He nodded in understanding, his eyes sad as he looked at the candles in her hands. She lit them and knelt to pray, and once again was shocked when he mimicked her, kneeling silently and… respectfully beside her. She wondered if she would wake up if she pinched herself. 

  
  
  


Cody could understand now why she seemed lighter after leaving the house of her god. The experience was solemn, but peaceful. The lights from the candles lit for those lost, the cadence of her whispered prayers, the blessing from the priest. No wonder she had cried when she first heard the bells.

He wondered if perhaps he could ask the priest to build a house for her god in the town near his mother's land. He paused when she moved to leave, asking her for a moment to speak to the priest, and she had nodded, her brow furrowed but her eyes at peace. The smaller man gave him a surprised but pleased look as he approached.

"What may I do for you, child?" He said in heavily accented gaelic.

"I… she loves to come here, is happier after, but we live a months journey away."

"Aye, she has always been faithful as she can be."

"Is it possible to build a house for her god there? There is away town a quarter days ride from our land."

The priest looked even more surprised by this question but looked considering. “I do not know of a brother who would be willing to move their parish.” Cody felt his shoulders fall in his disappointment and the priest spoke quickly. “Perhaps… if she had a small chapel… a place to pray as she will, the distance will not burden her so?”

“Like a shrine? But for her alone?” Cody glanced around the church, noting what symbology seemed most important. He could build a building. He might need help making it truly hers however. “May I write for advice? I would want to do it correctly.”

“Of course. May I ask you a question?” The priest continued when he nodded his permission. “Why are you doing this? I know you are not a believer.” 

Cody considered the question, and how much the priest seemed to care about Adelle, how concerned he had looked when he wed them, before answering slowly. “The first time I saw her smile was after we had been married a month. I picked strawberries for her. I… I have not seen her smile as much the past year as I have since she has been able to visit her house of god. I want her to be able to smile.” 

The priest smiled kindly. “You care for her?”

Cody shrugged, that did not matter. How he felt did not matter, only that she find some happiness in her circumstances. “She is my wife. She’s been deeply hurt, and I want her to heal.” 

The priest nodded and looked down thoughtfully. “O’Donlin, I would not have expected this of the dreadful ‘La Diable Noir’, I am pleasantly surprised.”

Cody snorted in amusement. “Defend yourself once in public and everyone thinks you will take their head off if they look at you. Thank you for your help.” 

The priest chuckled. “You did not merely defend yourself, O’Donlin. You instilled respect and fear with the burning of their bodies. Many believe that without an intact body their souls will not be accepted into heaven.”

Cody suddenly realized why Adelle had been so upset at the thought of him burning her friend. And then realized that was a silly belief. “But… all corpses rot. It just takes longer if you put them in the ground.” 

The priest nodded. “Aye, yet can you simply tell them that and expect them to drop their long held beliefs on your word alone?”

Cody inclined his head to acknowledge the point. “Fair enough. It does not matter anyway, I do not wish to try and change anyone’s beliefs. Well…” He paused. “Maybe the ones where they think I’m going to swoop in and kill someone who sneezes. That one I’d like to change.” 

Again the priest laughed and patted his arm before gesturing for him to return to Adelle who had started to shift her weight uncomfortably by the door. “Perhaps it was Providence after all that brought the two of you together... who can say?”

  
  
  
  


The night passed uneventfully, they ate supper, more crepes from the shop she loved, and this time the old man had felt brave enough to share a bit of gossip as he cooked despite Cody standing over her shoulder. Quietly, but an improvement. It seemed like word that she had taken the Devil in hand and led him to church was spreading like wildfire, as well as the fact that she had marked her own father. An act which the crepe maker praised her quietly for. 

They slept, they packed, and then they were by their wagon, waiting for Mirwa to show back up after she had slipped away after breakfast. Finally, she appeared, only to have a massive man leading an ox hauling a cart of his own following her.

Adelle found herself stepping back out of apprehension when the man drew near. He was almost as tall as Mirwa, and was solid, scarred muscle, with a ‘fighter’s ear’. Mirwa gestured to him grandly. “Ta da! I found a blacksmith willing to come apprentice Sean and then set up shop in the town! He’ll be traveling with us.” 

Cody frowned in thought. “Sean wants to learn smithing?”

Mirwa rolled her eyes. “Yes, oh observant one. He decided he doesn’t want to be a hunter, he doesn’t like farming, and last time Father let him near the weaving room he set it on fire. So he decided to be a blacksmith. The fire is on purpose then.” 

During their sibling bickering, Adelle found herself staring at the blacksmith, who was watching them speak with an unnerving silence that reminded her of Fiadh, minus the knife twirling. Cody, apparently having worked out his confusion over his nephew, extended a hand to the man who looked at it with a bland expression before clasping his forearm in greeting.

“His name is Tobias. He doesn’t speak much.” Mirwa offered. 

Cody nodded. “Well met, Tobias.”

The bear of a man nodded his head and grunted. Oh dear. Fiadh was going to  _ love _ him. 

They finally began their journey homewards, and Tobias was as unobtrusive as a massive man could be. He watched, he helped, he calmed the horses when it rained, but he never spoke, grunting and gesturing when he needed something. Adelle found herself curious of what the meeting between Tobias and Fiadh would be like. 

She had been leafing through a book on flowers she had bought for herself with the coin she had made, when suddenly both Cody and Mirwa’s heads snapped up and they focused down the road. She made herself small in her seat, fearing bandits or worse, when Cody relaxed and hopped off of his horse with a grin. “Fiadh.”

Mirwa followed suit, and then minutes later both were being tackled from a grinning Fiadh, who leaped from her horse’s back to hug them. Adelle couldn’t help a small smile as the fiery woman greeted them, and when she turned her knowing blue eyes onto her, she blurted out the thing she was most certain she’d want to hear. “I cut a man’s face.” 

Fiadh broke into a dazzling grin and spread her arms in an offer of a hug, and Adelle only hesitated a moment before leaning over for a hug. When she pulled back with feather light cuff to Adelle’s chin, Cody cleared his throat. “Fiadh, this is Tobias, the blacksmith that will be training Sean. He’s travelling with us.”

Fiadh turned to look where Cody was gesturing, and Adelle had an up close and perfect view of the giant, fierce woman absolutely freezing. Her mouth even fell open. Adelle glanced between the two as they just… stared at each other. Silent. Unmoving. Staring. 

Mirwa reached over and physically shut Fiadh’s mouth, and the redhead suddenly blushed bright red from her ears down to her exposed shoulders, and then  _ ran. _ She jumped onto her horse and rode off into the woods, leaving them all standing there in the middle of the path.

“Well… that was weird. Weirder than usual.” Cody said as looked back at Tobias with a questioning expression. 

Tobias merely straightened his shoulders and grunted with a shrug before he bent down to inspect his oxen’s tack.

Mirwa rolled her eyes and muttered something about ‘mother’s looks and father’s brain’ before she too disappeared into the woods.

It was nightfall before the sisters returned and Adelle watched closely as Fiadh stopped at the edge of the camp and shifted nervously before moving to climb in the back of the wagon without a word to anyone. Mirwa just rolled her eyes and moved to sit next to Adelle with an amused smile tugging at her lips. “I am going to enjoy this.”

Adelle bit her lip shyly before whispering. “I bet you a coin she starts bringing him gifts like a cat.” 

Mirwa snorted, “Ai, mice, lizards, and the occasional bird.”

Fiadh poked her head out of the wagon and made a rude gesture at them, and then ducked back inside, her ears red even by the dim firelight. 

  
  
  
  
  


The trip home had been… interesting. He didn’t know what had gotten into Fiadh, but she was more impossible to understand than normal. She was absolutely silent, looked like she was constantly running a fever, and he kept walking by her and Tobias just… staring at each other. It was unnerving, and Mirwa refused to tell him what was wrong and he didn’t dare ask Adelle and break the fragile friendship that they seemed to have reached. She no longer flinched away from him every time he moved to do something too quickly, and even tentatively made quiet comments every now and then.

She had very, very shyly said that they were far enough from the town that he didn't have to keep his hair down, which, as far as he could tell had been her way of saying that his ears no longer sent her into wide eyed wariness. 

She was quiet again after they stopped to visit Timothy, but she didn’t pretend he didn’t exist afterwards. She collected wildflowers and laid them by the sapling, tying a small ribbon around one of the small branches. ‘To mark it for Father Jacque.’ She explained.

The return home was boisterous as usual, hugs, tears, gifts brought out, supper cooked. Tobias was like a rock that all of the activity boiled around, and Cody often found Adelle hiding in his shadow, using him like a barrier between her and the chattering of the family. She seemed to find something amusing, and when he’d look at her to make sure she was alright, she’d give him a tightly suppressed smile that somehow still made her eyes dance with mirth. 

Father took Tobias aside to show him where he could build a forge, and Fiadh looked very pale and nervous until they returned, father smiling as bright as ever. Mother had broken into giggles, that had quickly spread to everybody, except Tobias, Sean, and himself. Fiadh just turned red and ran out the door towards the barn.

They were just about to sit down to eat when Fiadh reappeared, pressing her face close to his in her way of asking a question, her eyes wide and urgent. 

“Uh, you need help?” A nod. “Uh, advice?” A nod. “Uh… don’t eat yellow snow?” A punch to the stomach. “Oof. Gods… I don’t know what this is about, but be nice, be kind, and ask mother.” That just about covered everything she might need advice about. 

She rolled her eyes and then turned to Father with the same inquiring expression. Father just shrugged. “Don’t give your full name to a stranger, don’t trade knives with someone who doesn't know what it means, and always tie your hair back before a fight.” 

“Or a-” Father reached out and slapped his hand not too gently over Mirwa’s mouth. 

“No.” He said firmly before leaning back in his chair with a heavy sigh. “Will I never be free of the woman?”

  
  
  


Adelle had won the bet. Not a month after returning home, Mirwa passed her a gold coin as Fiadh dropped a deer antler shedding onto Tobias’ worktable before running off. Adelle would swear she saw the faintest hint of a smile on Tobias’ face as he picked up the antler shed and inspected it before placing it on a hook above his tool bench. 

She said as much to Cody, who looked perplexed at the out of the blue comment, but Fiadh, who had been about to dump a bowl of water over his head, froze and then ran off, her ears bright red. 

Tobias, for his part, seemed to enjoy teaching Sean, who enjoyed the training in turn, beaming when he presented the first dagger he had made to his grandfather. It looked pitted and a little bent but Del treated the tiny blade as if it were made of the purest gold. 

Armed with the knowledge that she could sell anything she made, Adelle applied herself to spinning with more enthusiasm, even trying to help and learn to dye and card the wool. She offered to help with the shearing, but that… did not work out. She had gone flying when an unruly ewe had bumped into her, and Fiadh had silently snickered as she had bodily picked her up out of a cow patty.

Her extra time in the spinning room gave her more insight to Del and Beth’s relationship. They were free with their affections, often sharing kisses and embraces without care of her presence. It made her blush at first but after a while she came to find the sight endearing. And… curious. 

She waited until Del had left the spinning room at the behest of Loaise who begged him to come see her ‘flip in the yard’, leaving Beth behind while she checked over their thread stocks. Adelle tried to think of a polite way to bring up the subject, but she must have been staring because Beth laughed and sat down next to her. “What’s on your mind, child?” 

“How… how did you and Del... “ She paused, unsure what she was trying to ask. “You said you were like me.” 

“Ah.” Beth sat back with a smile. “That’s a story I haven’t had a fresh audience for in a while. Do you know what a fae is?”

Adelle nodded hesitantly. She had heard a few local tales, had read the book of fairy tales that Timothy had taught her to read out of. 

“Well, Del is a fae. But don’t call him that to his face. He insists he’s an Eldar, which is just a more honorable kind of fae.” Beth smirked, and then pulled the neck of her dress aside to show several brown, oval marks on her shoulder. “I was born ‘fae touched’. People… were not kind. I was attacked, threatened. My own father abandoned me at birth because my mother refused to let him drown me. I ended up living alone in the woods to avoid the stigma of being ‘fae touched’. While I was out one day, Del… well, he fell out of the sky. So I punched him.” 

Adelle gaped at her, her mind reeling at the idea that she had struck the giant so, but she just shrugged. “I was scared. Anyway, he was badly wounded, some fae business I never asked about and he never said. So I took him home, and took care of him because the last thing I needed was to make the fae angry with me. And then…” Her eyes grew distant and fond before she shook her head. “I tied him down, so he couldn’t hurt me, but he thought he was a prisoner for some time, apparently. Neither of us could speak the other’s language. He spoke his fae tongue, and I spoke Gealic. It took us a long time to be able to converse, even a little. But… during that time, he used his fae powers to make us trade knives.” 

Adelle paled, knowing that was how the heathen married. He had forced her to marry him? She couldn’t imagine the gentle giant doing that, the man- fae, if the story was to be believed, doted on his wife. Beth gave her an understanding smile. “I had that very reaction. Cried myself sick that night when I went to his bed. But, he never touched me.”

That... sounded familiar. 

“But what I didn’t know, was that he was trying to protect me by giving me his fae blade. What he did not know, was that he had married me. It took… quite some time for us to figure that out. I didn’t know why he wasn’t… well, taking me, and he didn't know why I was so nervous every night. The idiot thought I was just trying to stay warm. That went on until I got my nerve up to kiss him and he-“ she burst into laughter at the memory. “He froze, like a frightened deer.”

She felt the urge to smile at that. Imagining the giant frozen in fear as the tiny woman that was Beth kissed him. “And… then?”

Beth shrugged. “I figured out how to explain what I thought was going on, he agreed to marry me, and that was how Mirwa was made. It was all quite wonderful, but the first, gods, must have been almost a year? I forget how long it was before then, but before that I was terrified of him. He was… beautiful, powerful, strong. I saw him kill a man with his bare hands for trying to touch me. Cody… takes after his father. Kind, gentle, and as much sense as a headless fish when it comes to women.” 

Oh. “He… hasn’t…”

“I know.” Beth patted her arm. “And he won’t, because I raised him better than that. You owe him nothing in bed, and he expects nothing.” 

Adelle bit her lip and looked down at her hands. “If- If he expects nothing from me…. why would he-?” She twisted her hands wondering if she had said too much.

“Because he is too proud to learn to speak English, and he found a man beating his daughter for not wanting to be a whore, and did the only thing he could think of.” Beth shrugged, standing to pick up another bolt of cloth before looking back down at her with a smile. “Like I said, he inherited his father’s sense.” 

“Inherited my what? Love?” Del spoke lightly as he walked back into the room with a teasing smile and Laoise dangling on his shoulders.

“You’re inability to reach under the couch without getting stuck.” Beth said mildly, giving her a wink before turning to her husband. Adelle smiled gratefully as the two began playful bantering and slipped out of the room. She pondered the story as she went out to tend the chickens and close their coop for the night, a task Sean had been quite happy to relinquish to her.

Everything seemed to make more sense, after hearing Beth and Del’s story, despite the ‘fae’ nonsense. The knowledge that Cody had bought her from her father in an attempt to protect her, because of his lack of English made her feel actually grateful… if he had not… she shuddered at the thought of where she might have been. And now… now she could do anything she wanted. Because she had his name. 

She found him cleaning out the nesting boxes of the coop, and watched him refill them with clean hay. He looked up and gave her a shy smile. “I’ll be out of your way in just a moment.” 

She didn’t know what to do with his willingness to move out of her way and blurted out what his mother had told her. “Beth says that Del is fae.”

“Eldar.” Cody said automatically before rolling his eyes. “Ai, now he has me saying it.” 

She found herself smiling at his exasperated, fond smile, but sobered and twisted her hands nervously. This seemed… rather personal. “And… you?”

“Half.” He shrugged and pointed at his ear. 

She bit her lip. Father Jacque had once said that there were many reasons someone could be born differently. Birthmarks, blind, or lame. “Do you really believe that?” 

He twisted his mouth before kneeling down and… singing, a low, quiet song in a language she had never heard before and made the hair on her arms prickle and her mind slow. She watched as if in a dream as he gently picked up the chickens that had been pecking around the coop and set them down in a circle. He stopped and stood, and the chickens slowly began moving away. He shrugged again. “Half. None of us glow in the dark like Father does. He says it’s because he’s seen the light of the twin trees that lit up his realm…before he came here.” he shrugged and she distinctly got the sense that he believed every word he spoke, as mad as it sounded.

But the song. And The ears. And Del really did glow in dim light. And Fiadh knew things before they happened. And they were all inhumanly fast and strong, even little Laoise, and- oh Lord. She took a step back and tried to breathe without drawing her air too fast. Fae. Angels or demons.

Cody’s face fell but he nodded with an understanding twist to his mouth as he stepped backwards. “I’ll… get out of your way. Good evening.” 

He started to move past her, being very careful not to brush her and she immediately felt terrible for her fear. “Wait-“ she touched his arm before she even realized she had reached for it and drew back to tuck it behind her back.

“Yes?” He stopped instantly at her word, waiting. Like she had asked. 

“I-“ she looked down trying to find some way to apologize but nothing she thought of seemed to make up for her reaction. He had never once harmed her. Never once touched her other than to help. She had no call to fear him. 

“Ai. It is alright. If you’re really curious, ask Mother to sing the family song in front of Father. You’ll learn all about the differences between Eldar and Fae when they start arguing.” He said in a gentle, joking manner as he started to move away again.

She found herself not wanting him to leave thinking she was still afraid of him. So she blurted out the first thing she could think of. “I never said thank you.”

He blinked at her in honest confusion. “For what?”

She bit her lip and looked down at the ground. “For- for bringing me here… for not letting fa-“ she cut herself off and shook her head. “I didn’t realize… but thank you.”

“Oh.” He looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I… I’m sorry I mucked it all up.” He gave her a teasing grin. “Still not learning any more English though.” 

She found herself laughing quietly. “Your father will be disappointed.”

His expression faltered and he looked away for a moment before giving her a smile. “I’ll make it up to him by learning French.” 


	3. Chapter 3

The next year of her life with the O’Donlins passed quickly and with much laughter at Fiadh’s expense. The poor woman was completely besotted with Tobias, and their mutual lack of words led to a very awkward, silent courtship. Fiadh would bring him bones, polished stones, antler sheds, and at one point, even an entire log of a hardwood tree for making handles. Each time she would present it to him, stare at him for a long moment, and then run off with her ears red. 

Tobias, for his part, would stare right back at her with just the blandest hint of a smile, and would watch her leave. Adelle swore she heard him let out a tiny, wistful sigh after the log though. The poor man didn’t seem to know what to do, although she believed he was just as smitten as Fiadh.

Mirwa declared she was not leaving the farm for anything short of a war, dashing Cody’s hopes of her accompanying him to town again, but Ailbhe and Muire surprised them all by volunteering to go. Muire confessed late one night while they had decided and that Sean wanted a sister so they were going to go adopt one from the orphanage but it was a surprise. She also told Adelle that she was barren, having had an accident as a child that prevented her from ever carrying, and that Ailbhe had known before they married, a fact that made Adelle walk in a dazed fog for days afterwards in shock, before she shook herself with the reminder that the O’Donlins were O’Donlins and did as they pleased. 

A fact that was solidified when she found Fiadh wrestling a massive stone through the fields.

“W- what do you have there?”

Fiadh just looked at her with wide eyes, her ears slowly turning pink, and Adelle sighed fondly. It was a gift for Tobias then. “Do you need help?” 

Fiadh shook her head and went back to wrestling the stone, and Adelle went back to trying to find Cody, who apparently had a ‘very important thing to show her, but it’s a surprise’. Mirwa’s cackling joke of ‘it had better not be your-’ only to be cut off by Del, had made her a little nervous, though she was mostly certain by now that Cody did not in fact, care if they ever consummated their marriage. 

She finally found Cody pacing in front of one of the little paths that led away from the house. She had never explored them, too frightened of becoming lost on the O’Donlin’s massive property, but she knew of them, had seen the various members of the clan trickle in and out of the network of paths. He straightened when he saw her, smiling nervously, and she felt a little silly about her own nervousness. The last few weeks she had been able to comfortably talk with him on several occasions.

“Hello. I wanted to show you something. But, I just realized that it’s away from the house and you might not want to walk alone in the woods with me, but it’s just for you so no-one else knows where it is and I don’t know if you’d find it by yourself for the first time and I’m a little stressed out because I didn’t think this through and I don’t want to worry you-”

“Cody.” She said softly. He immediately fell silent with a slightly embarrassed expression when he realized he’d been rambling. “I will be fine walking with you.” 

He smiled nervously but nodded. “Alright.”

They walked along the little path for a few minutes before they came to a small stone building painted white. He nervously opened the door for her to let her in, but stayed outside. She stepped in and her breath caught in her throat.

It was a chapel. Crude, handbuilt, but a chapel. With an altar, a crucifix, little stone jars for candles, and a small statue of the Holy Mother. There was a prayer cushion on the floor, and on a small shelf by the door was a speckled brown rosary and a prayer book. She stepped forward, reaching out to touch it, half expecting everything to vanish as soon as it met her hand but… it was real… and he… 

“I asked your priest about- well, anyway, he suggested building a ‘chapel’ for you to pray properly in, and wrote suggestions to me on how to build it properly.” Cody was still fidgeting outside the door.

“You… built this? For me?” He wrote Father Jacque… for her… for her to be able to pray ‘properly’ to a God he didn’t worship? She couldn’t name the feeling in her chest.. it was so foreign but the closest she could think of was gratitude… pure gratitude.

“Yes. You… seemed so happy after you visited your house of god, and… I wanted you to have that. Here.” He shifted his weight and still fidgeted. “I know we can’t go back more than once a year so I ju-“ 

She wasn’t sure why she did but she launched herself at him as Fiadh had done many times, but without the effect of knocking the air from him. She instead wrapped her arms around his middle and allowed the tears of gratitude to fall…. no one… no one had ever done something this big for her. He had somehow become a friend she hadn’t even realized she had. It was several moments before she realized that he was holding his arms out awkwardly to the side so as not to touch her overly much and couldn’t help a small laughed amusement at the way Beth had said his father had ‘frozen like a frightened deer’.

“Thank you. This… means more than you know.” She wiped at her eyes as she stepped back.

His ears were pink but he gave her an earnest look. “I’m… glad you like it. You… deserve to be happy.” 

She felt herself blush at the thought that he believed she deserved anything as grand as this and she shook her head looking away. “This is far more than I deserve…. thank you.”

“I… feel like I should argue with you, but Fiadh also used her ten words for the day to tell me not to argue with a woman so…” He shifted, his ears still pink. “You’re welcome.” 

He took to walking her to the little ‘chapel’ once every three to four days, even planting a little garden outside the door while she was inside. He never stepped foot into it unless she specifically invited him, and on the few occasions she did, would kneel silently next to her, no matter how long she prayed. It was strange yet somehow endearing that he would do these things for her. 

As time went on and it drew closer to their yearly trip she found herself anxiously looking forward to the trip. Sean and Muire were coming along this time and she knew there wouldn’t be a dull moment with them. 

There was the usual scramble of packing, trips from the nearby town and back, and other last minute arrangements that she was slowly becoming familiar with. The unusual thing this year, was that Fiadh was in an absolute… well, snit. Stomping and pouting, all silently of course, but she obviously did not want to leave Tobias. 

Adelle found herself standing on the large porch of the house standing next to Del who watched on the activity in the yard, as wagons were loaded, with an easy smile. He touched her elbow gently to catch her attention and tilted his head towards a stoic Tobias, who was very slowly walking towards the activity. 

Fiadh, as was usual, froze at the sight of him, and the pair stared at each other as he drew closer. Adelle found herself stunned as the bear of a man dropped to one knee and offered up a long knife with an antler tipped hilt. Fiadh’s face went white, then red, then white again, before she broke into a grin that put the sun to shame with how bright it was. She pulled out her longknife, the one with the O’Donlin crest on it, and dropped to one knee as well. The pare stared at each other before slowly exchanging their knives. The second the blades were sheathed, raucous cheers rose up from the caravan hires and the O’Donlin clan themselves. Even Adelle found herself clapping quietly, but excitedly as Tobias pressed a solemn kiss to Fiadh’s hand, only to be tackled backwards in a, good lord, a very enthusiastic kiss. 

Del was chuckling and she turned to see him smiling widely as Beth moved next to him and wrapped an arm around his waist as they watched their daughter. “I wondered when they would trade knives.”

“I went to speak to him about it.” Del said mildly, yet with a glint of amusement in his eyes at the shock on Beth’s face. “Apparently, he has been forging a knife for her for months, trying to get it perfect. He couldn’t decide which gift of hers to put on the hilt.” 

“The first one.” Adelle murmured with a smile. She hoped the odd, silent pair found happiness together. Her eyes sought out Cody on their own accord, finding him leaning against one of the wagons with a genuine smile for his sister before he looked down and away from the couple to begin loading the wagon again.

“Their children will be a trial and a half to teach to speak.” Beth sighed in mock exasperation.

Del sighed. “Perhaps, But I should count the silence a boon… less likely to quote Grandmother every other sentence. Even if she never says it aloud, you  _ know _ Fiadh is quoting her in her head.”

Adelle blushed, Mirwa had finally gotten around to finishing both of those sentences Del had stopped her from speaking, and after her shocked horror at the crass words, had gotten a brief explanation of the dreaded ‘grandmother’. And way too many jokes involving… things. 

  
  


Cody had teased Fiadh before they were finally on the road. Her behavior the past year making more sense to him now. Honestly, he had worried the pair hated each other with how they would stare at each other like bucks about to charge. He had made a gentle joke about that to Adelle, who had pleasantly surprised him by breaking into quiet giggles so intense that she had to clamp both hands over her mouth and sit down to try and quiet the sound of her mirth. Even though her amusement was directed at his apparent obliviousness on the matter, he was glad that she was able to laugh so deeply, if still suppressed. 

Muire and her chatted quietly to each other throughout the trip, Muire showing Adelle how to embroider with the materials she had brought with her. Sean was excited to be away from the land and drank in the sights and the passing landscape with the enthusiasm only a child could. Ailbhe had his hands full trying to keep the excited kid with the caravan, his normally peaceful brother looking downright harried as he caught his son by the ankle before he could shimmy up a tree, again. 

The first night they stopped to camp Adelle surprised him by placing his bedroll into the wagon with her, he had stood there gaping like an idiot before Ailbhe cuffed him on the shoulder. “Just keep it down. None of us expect you to sleep apart because Sean is here.” 

Somehow, it was moments like this that reminded Cody that even though Adelle had been in her own room for about three years, half his family thought that he and Adelle were actually married in a weird, chaste relationship that was none of their business, and that it had been way, way too long for him to explain. So very aware that his ears were burning, he climbed into the wagon bed and pulled the flap closed, leaning his head back against the siding and praying to all the gods he knew that this did not set back the progress Adelle had made.

Adelle was very nervously twisting her hands in her lap on her own bedroll. “I’m sorry, it’s just, Sean told me earlier that one of his friends from the town, his father left them after they started sleeping apart, and he begged me not to leave because I’m his least scary aunt, and-” She winced. “I… didn’t want to worry him?” 

Cody immediately felt himself relax, she didn’t expect him to try anything, she was worried he’d be uncomfortable. “Thank you, you are his least scariest aunt.” He joked lightly. “But you don’t have to do this just to ease his mind… I can sleep out-“

She shook her head. “I… I’m not worried anymore.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “We’ve… we’ve been married three years and not once have you… demanded anything. I’m… you don’t have to sleep outside.” 

He felt himself sigh in relief, she wasn’t afraid of him any more. She didn't flinch or shy away. She laughed and teased, shyly, but she did. He nodded and moved to where she had laid out the blankets, he paused and looked for his roll which was tucked under the seat. 

She blushed and looked away. “You… said before… normal blankets irritated… your roll wasn’t… soft.”

She was really quite thoughtful when she wasn’t terrified. He gave her a smile. “Thank you.” 

She smiled back, looking happy with herself, and they both laid down on their respective sides to sleep. In his joy that they had been able to progress so far as to sleep next to each other, he forgot to place something between them. This was how he woke to the soft weight of her arm on his chest. After quite a bit of silent panicking, he started trying to ease himself out from under her arm, only for her fingers to twist into his shirt and her to make a sleepy groan as she curled around him like a cat, one of her legs going over one of his as her face burrowed into his side. Oh Eru, this was not going to end well. 

Short of throwing her off and undoubtedly waking her and possibly panicking her, he was trapped… so he slowed his breathing closed his eyes to feign sleep, keeping his hands careful away from her and hoping beyond hope she did not scream when she woke.

It felt like an age, him trying to hold himself as still and nonthreatening as possible, and Adelle clinging to him like he was an oversized cloth animal. 

“Hey lovebirds!” He heard Ailbhe shout and a loud knock on the side of the wagon moments before his brother’s head poked in with a friendly scowl. “Wake up, we need to get moving.” 

Adelle went rigid before jumping back and snagging his roll from beneath the seat and with a well placed throw, pelted Ailbhe in the face with it. “Have. You. No. Manners?” She hissed, her face as crimson as he was sure his ears were

Ailbhe staggered back with a laugh, dropping the flap with snickered ‘apologies’ and Adelle covered her face with her hands “I… am so sorry.” 

Cody couldn’t help it…. he covered his own face with his hands and tried to muffle his building laughter, his own embarrassment forgotten. “Oh gods, you threw the bed roll at him! That was amazing!”

She peeked at him through her fingers and he saw the corners of her eyes crinkle into a smile. “It was, wasn’t it?” 

Cody dissolved into laughter as he nodded and was rewarded with the beautiful sound of her own quiet laughter.

  
  
  
  


Cody had guided her back to Timothy’s grave to visit and pray, sending Ailbhe ahead with the caravan. They could catch up on their horses easily. Father Jacque had made a visit sometime during the year, and there was a simple wooden cross with his name carved onto it next to the oak sapling that Fiadh had marked the grave with. 

She cleared his grave of overgrowth and said her prayers for him. Unlike the last two times, the pain did not come as sharply to her heart. She was saddened by the memory of his death but… there was no more pain, no more guilt. 

She looked up at Cody, who was watching her with a dark, sad expression. This man who had laughed so freely with her not four days ago. Who greeted her everyday after with the brightest of smiles. Who playfully wrestled with his nephew every morning. this man who looked so solemnly down at the grave, regret and pain showing in his gaze. “Why did you kill him?”

He stepped back as if she had struck him and opened his mouth to answer, only to let out a pained yell as an arrow sprouted from his side. She heard herself scream and then he was moving, picking her up and shoving her back the way they had come. “Go! Warn the others!” He pulled his sword as another arrow grazed his arm and ducked behind a tree. At first she stood frozen before his growling bellow of, “RUN!” Somehow cleared the fog of her mind. 

She ran, branches whipping her face and hands as she raced to her horse, flinging herself onto it and turning it to the road. Sean. Muire. She raced, her heart in her throat, guilt at leaving him behind. She saw the tail end of the caravan and summoned all of her breath to scream. “Ailbhe! Help!”

Instantly the hires began moving, wagons bunching together and the men drawing weapons protectively and circling around them. Ailbhe appeared next to her mare and swiftly legged? her from the saddle. “Get to the wagons! Stay with Muire and Sean!”

“But Cody! He’s hurt!” She gasped. 

His expression darkened, but he just pulled her dagger and pressed it into her hands. “Protect Sean. Go!” He grabbed the reins of the mare and launched himself onto the horse with inhuman speed and grace, and spurred it on with grim determination set into his features.

Only then did she see the sword in his hand. In the three years she had known him she’d never seen him carry one, only the dagger at his side. The sight of it sent the horror of this reality through her, he was a farmer, not a warrior. But she clutched her dagger and raced to the center wagon where Muire and Sean were hiding. Muire was pale and physically holding Sean down while he struggled with protests that he wanted to help. Adelle promptly sat on his legs and Muire gave her a wan, grateful look.

“Sean. I can knock the dagger from your hand and I’m not even a fighter.” She hissed. “You would be nothing but a hindrance out there as you are.” 

Sean looked at her in betrayal, but she stayed firm. “If you must feel useful, be quiet and have your knife ready for if anyone makes it past the hires.” 

A shout went up outside the tent and her heart caught in her throat. She clutched her wedding dagger and faced the wagon opening, her blood racing and sweat trickling down her spine as the sounds of a battle raged outside of her sight. She heard a cry, and the beautiful, beautiful feeling of relief in her chest that Cody was alive, made her want to weep in utter relief as he yelled something. Ailbhe yelled something in turn, and then just as suddenly as it started, the sounds of the battle disappeared, hoofbeats and shouts growing distant. 

It felt like an age before Ailbhe knocked on the wagon before lifting the flap. He had a cut across his brow and was bleeding heavily from several wounds, an arrow jutting from his leg. “Fae hunters. We have to turn back.”

“C-Cody?” She gasped out the question at the same time at Muire threw herself into her husband’s arms only to pull back just as suddenly when he hissed in pain and began checking his wounds. 

Ailbhe gave her a complicated expression. “He’s alive. We need to turn back, He needs mother.” He gave a tired sigh. “There are too many of them, so the whole caravan has to go, safety in numbers.” He turned to Muire and grabbed her hands. “Cody needs you. I have his bag.” He looked at Adelle seriously. “I need you to drive the wagon. We lost-“ he cut himself off and glanced at his son. “Sean, stay in the wagon. Do not come out.” 

The boy actual shrank back at the steel and his father’s voice… possibly the first time he had ever heard it. “Yes, father.”

Adelle felt a numb sense of dread and guilt as she realized that Cody was badly injured, injured protecting her… always protecting her... Muire touched her arm, leaving a smear of Ailbhe’s blood on her sleeve. “I will tend to him. I can help. Keep Sean safe for me.”

She nodded. She could do that. She climbed from the wagon and shook the tremors out of her hands as she picked up the reins for the wagon. She had to bite back a whimper as she saw Cody laying atop a laden wagon, his eyes closed and so, so much blood, arrows still protruding from his flesh. 

Adelle suddenly understood why he had killed Timothy. Hadn’t hesitated to slay men riding up to him with weapons drawn. The realization ran through her head in a constant litany, mingling with her prayers as Muire balanced on the moving wagon next to him, her expression drawn as she worked to remove arrows and stop the bleeding. 

She prayed while Muire worked on her husband. She prayed when she sat back on her heels in exhaustion and let Ailbhe help as she sewed up a gash on her own husband’s arm. She prayed when they were forced to stop for the night, after two days travel, half of the remaining hires standing watch lest they be taken by surprise, the animals exhausted. 

She was still praying when Muire collapsed to the ground with a sob, a whispered, “He’s feverish.”

Infection. His own blood would kill him. And she could do nothing… but pray. 

She felt utterly helpless as they crossed the O’Donlin boundary stone and Ailbhe hauled himself onto his horse with a pained grimace and spurred the exhausted animal towards home. She kept the caravan together, kept them moving, feeling numb and distant as she shouted orders, using what she had learned by proximity to Cody to keep them together. Just because they were on O’Donlin land did not mean they were safe yet. 

They barely made it to the house before Del and Beth met them, Mirwa and her husband on their heels. Del’s face was set in expressionless stone as he went to the wagon where Cody was and lifted his son to carry him into the house with a cold shout over his shoulder for someone to have a horse ready for him.

Ailbhe straightened from where he was leaning against his horse in exhaustion, but Mirwa stepped forward with a terrible expression. “No. You heal. I’ll go with him.”

She stormed into the house and Adelle tried to keep her voice from shaking as she settled the caravan, her mind drawn to thoughts of Cody inside as she tried… tried to be useful. Tried to help. It was nearing sunset when she had the last wagon secured, the last horse set to rest, the last hire paid to stand guard around the house. She stepped inside, feeling gaunt and drained, only to freeze at the sight of Del, dressed in armor shining like the sun, a glittering gold cloak over his shoulders, a golden sword larger than any she had ever seen sheathed as his side. Mirwa was also in armor, form fitting, dark armor, her bow and quiver on her back as she tightened the straps on her gauntlets.

Both of them had their hair tied back away from their faces, coiled tightly at the back of their heads so it could not be grabbed. Always tie your hair back before a fight.

Nothing ‘short of a war’ would make Mirwa leave the farm. 

Del looked at her, his face hard but his eyes shone with fire. “He will live. Mirwa and I will return when we are finished.” 

He brushed past her, his strides quick, strong, and purposeful. She watched as he only stopped when Beth met him on the porch. Her hand on his arm, they spoke, a language she could not understand but sounded powerful in her ears.

Del bent to press a kiss to Beth’s forehead before moving away, grabbing the reins of the stallion that had been brought out and tied to the railing. Mirwa mounted her own horse, bareback, and together, father and daughter rode off into the night. She didn't have to ask what they planned to do, it was in their eyes. 

She found herself rooted to the center of the floor, feeling as if everything she thought she knew was crashing down around her. Ailbhe appeared from one of the doorways, dark circles under his eyes, exhaustion in every line of his body. “Gods, I hate fae hunters.” He gritted. He looked at her with a small tired smile and tilted his head back. “Second door down. Father drew out the infection. He’s asleep.”

She nodded numbly as she moved down the hall… she had always known where Cody’s room was but had never dared go near it… even as she grew more comfortable around him. He never went near hers unless to leave a gift of some sort on her shelf outside the door. It had seemed only fair she do the same. But the thought of not seeing him until he was well enough to leave the room made her gut clench in an emotion she couldn’t name. 

She moved as if she was asleep, not realizing she was in front of his door until she was raising her hand to knock, and then stopping herself. He was asleep. She quietly opened the door and stepped inside, her gaze instantly settling on where Cody was laid out on his bed, most of his body covered in bandages. But his chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. His face no longer twisted in pain at every labored breath, pouring sweat at every bounce of the wagon. Del said he would live. Cody would live. 

She exhaled raggedly and sat on the floor by his bed, thanking God for whatever power? Magic? That Del had done to draw out the infection. The movement made Cody’s eyes flutter open and he glanced at her dimly. “Y’ A’righ’?”

She nodded, suddenly feeling close to tears at the fact that his first question after all he had been through was about her. “I’m alright. We’re safe.” She whispered, bowing her head so he couldn’t see the tears about to fall. The side of his mouth pulled up into a satisfied smile and then he was asleep again. 

She dashed away the tears as quickly as she could. She had to do something. Anything. She spotted the basin of clean water and towels and wet one, glad that the water was warm as if just poured, she set about cleaning his arms and washing and combing out his hair gently, doing her best not to wake him. She found the action comforting, she was helping.

As she worked her mind also worked, running through everything she knew of the O’Donlins. They were dangerous, yes. But now she realized, they had to be. They had to keep their fierce reputation to deter those who would hunt them, attack and slay them without care that there were women and a child traveling with them. Or… as she remembered the fierce way Ailbhe had told her to hide, to keep safe with Muire and Sean,  _ because _ there were women and a child with them. Fae hunters. And the O’Donlins were fae. 

‘I not let them kill Fiadh.’ His words that night shot through her….. he had never cared about his own safety, had only protected himself in the town, never attacked. He had protected his sister… and her, that night. Again her tears fell as she dried his hair with a towel, she had horribly misjudged him. Even with the inability to properly speak she would have still misjudged him. 

She found her head falling as her body tried to succumb to sleep against her will. She knew she should return to her room…. he was clean and sleeping, there was nothing left for her to do but… she could not make herself move towards the door. She didn’t want to leave him, not after he had been so close to lost. 

They had slept next to each other for several nights in the back of the wagon, surely his bed, which was slightly bigger than the wagon, wouldn’t shock anyone. She was also his wife… if only in name. She would allow herself to be selfish, just this once. She was an O’Donlin woman, and the O’Donlin women did as they pleased. And she didn’t want to leave him alone. 

With great care, she eased onto the bed next to him, on his less wounded side and laid down, savoring the sound of his deep easy breaths as her eyes finally fell closed.

  
  
  


Cody woke with a start, his instincts screaming that he had to check, to make sure the others were safe. He started to rise, ignoring the pull of stitches and freshly closed wounds, only to come to a halt at a firm pressure over his heart.

“No. I’ll fetch someone.”

Adelle. Adelle was safe. He had heard snatches of her voice as he had floated in his feverish state, but she was here, she was safe. She was... In his bed, he realized with shock as she began to ease out of the bed. 

She was wearing the same dress as she had when they were attacked, it was filthy, ripped, her hair was hanging out of her braided crown at several places. “You…” His throat felt dry, his voice rasping, and she immediately poured a cup of water from a pitcher. She glanced at him and then her shoulders fell.

“I can’t help you sit up without help, I’ll be right back.” She set the cup down and rushed out of the room.

Within moments Mother’s face came into view and the worry in her eyes made him give her a guilty smile. “‘M a’right.”

She tsked and helped him sit up with the skill of someone who had had to bodily move someone twice her size often. “You and your father, I swear.”

Adelle appeared at the door nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other her hands wringing in front of her as he eyes darted around the room as is looking for something to do. Cody glanced at her meaningfully, and Mother’s eyes followed his before she made a small, fond smile. “Dear, I’ll watch over him for a bit. Why don’t you bathe and change? You’ve done a wonderful job tending him last night, but you need to take care of yourself now.”

Adelle blushed and looked down at her dress before murmuring her agreement and slipping away. Mother gave a fond sigh as she began unwrapping a bandage on his leg to check his healing rate. “Ai, she is very sweet. Kept watch over you all night.” 

Cody chuckled then winced as it jostled his side too much. “She’s come a long way… she threw my roll in Ailbhe’s face for waking her up.” He left out the compromising bit, doubting Adelle would appreciate everyone knowing about that.

“She has. She’s healing.” Mother smiled and prodded gently at the edge of a sword wound. “As are you. You’ll scar, but with the infection gone I’d say you have maybe three days in bed before you can start walking around, assisted. I didn’t sew you up just for you to rip it out again.” 

He had been five when they had discovered that he too had inherited his father’s natural healing speed, only Mirwa seemed to not have inherited that from him. Mother finished checking his wounds, tsking at an arrow wound in his back. “Never thought I’d see one of you with a wound there”

“One of them started chasing her.” He said softly. 

She gave him a knowing smile and huffed. “Of course. And you thought the best way to help was to present your back as a neatly wrapped present?”

“There was more than one.” He felt himself color at the admonishment.

She tsked again in good humor and stood to wash her hands at the wash basin. “Next time, wear your armor? Won’t you, sweetling?”

He sighed. He had been avoiding his travel armor, not wanting to frighten Adelle. Oh gods, what if this reminded her of Timothy? Her last words before the attack had been her asking why he had killed her friend. 

“I know that look.” Mothers voice drew him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see her smiling softly at him. “Ai, you are too much like your father.”

He rolled his eyes and laughed. “It’s a good thing I know you love him, or I’d start to feel insulted.” 

She ruffled his hair, and then her eyebrows rose and she pressed her lips together to hide a smile. “I’ll let you rest.” 

There was a timid knock at the door and then Adelle cracked it open, a bowl of something steaming in her hands, her hair still wet and hanging down her back, but her dress was clean. “I… took some of the soup you had on the stove. I thought…”

Mother smiled “You thought right. Soup will do him good.” She said as she took up the wash basin and some soiled towels. “Make sure he eats it and doesn’t tear his stitches, I'll go wash these.”

Adelle blushed and looked away as mother moved past her and closed the door, leaving them alone. She seemed nervous and he didn’t know how to reassure her. “I’m sorry.” 

She blinked at him before shaking her head and making the snorting sound that Fiadh did. “Ah yes, I am terribly upset at you for protecting… us.” 

She approached with the bowl and he took it from her, wincing when the movement pulled at the deep arrow wound in his back, and she immediately took it back with her ears bright red. “Oh, no, that pulls. I’ll… Is it alright if… I help?” 

She wasn’t looking at him and he wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment of if she was frightened he’d be upset. “O-only if you want to… I mean I ca-“

She shook her head and picked up the spoon. “No, I can do it, Mother will kill me if you tear those.”

He gaped at her, feeling pleasantly shocked at her calling her Mother instead of Beth. “You just call-“ Adelle shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth, cutting off his words with just the slightest quirk of her mouth indicating she was trying not to laugh at him. He had just enough presence of mind to close his mouth before soup dripped out. 

She gave him a slightly impish smile. “Look at me, I can throw bed rolls and shut a giant up with soup.” 

He couldn’t help but burst into giggles with her, even as his wounds ached.

  
  
  


Adelle became a constant in this next few days . Mirwa and Father had yet to return, and Ailbhe and Aiden were looking more and more strained the longer they were gone. It wasn’t the first time Father had disappeared for days and it would not be the last. Their blood was their blessing… as well as their curse, though no one said it aloud in front of their parents. 

Adelle had dropped the fresh sheets she was carrying and had gasped when Mother had left the bandages off of some of the shallower wounds, reaching out and grabbing, gently, but still grabbing his arm to look at the fresh pink scar tissue. 

“How?!” She looked so confused and… awed at the same time. 

He winced when Mother just tsked and said. “His fae blood, dear.” Afraid of her reaction, the last time they had spoke of it fresh in his mind, the way she had drawn away from him. 

But Adelle just traced the scar with her finger and breathed. “Thank God for miracles, then.” Then blushed and ran from the room. 

He let his head fall back against the pillows and not for the first time in his life wished there was nothing special about his family, that he was as mundane and ordinary as any human. That there was no song of the Eldar fae in his veins. That he wasn’t hunted for his otherness.

Mother pinched his ear and he yelped in shock, and she gave him a stern look. “Hush you. I can hear you despairing from inside your thick skull.”

Adelle rushed back in, her eyes wide with concern. “Are you alright? I heard-”

“He’s fine. Just being foolish.” Mother said with a meaningful glare at him. “He just needed to be set straight about something.” 

He looked away from her knowing eyes and rubbed his still smarting ear. “Sorry.”

Mother just sighed and shook her head before standing. “I think some fresh air would do us all good… Adelle, would you help me move this foolish mountain to the porch?”

Adelle nodded, not hesitating a fraction to step to him and help ease him out of the bed without pulling anything. He felt ridiculously weak, and slightly ridiculous that two people who barely reached his chest were having to help him walk. But Adelle was determined and Mother was used to being half the size of the rest of her family, and together they made it to the long couch Mother had set up on the porch. He instantly felt a calming sense of peace when the unfiltered light of the sun’s rays hit him, and he closed his eyes with a relieved breath as he basked in it. 

“Eldar are creatures of light.” Mother said quietly. “They need starlight and sunlight to heal.” He felt a pang of unease at her bringing up his fae blood again to Adelle.

“Oh. That’s why you have so many windows?” Adelle simply sounded curious.

“Mmhmm. When Del and I first married, I had my weaving room in the cellar. He could barely manage an hour down there before he’d have to run outside and get some light.” 

Adelle just hummed and he felt a soft weight settle next to him. “I see. That also explains why Loaise runs outside when she scrapes her knee.” 

She was sitting next to him, of her own volition, and speaking freely of his inhuman blood. He half wondered if he had fallen back into a fever dream, a thought strengthened when Adelle suddenly put her hand on his wrist, her fingers cool against his skin. “They’re back!”

He snapped his eyes open, so lost in the revelation of Adelle newfounded ease around him that he had missed the steady step of hooves as Father and Mirwa rode into the yard. They looked exhausted and grim, blood dried in their hair and staining their armor. As they drew near, Cody could see a few new scars, and that Mirwa was favoring her arm. They dismounted as Ailbhe came running out of the barn, coming to a halt in front of them and giving restrained arm clasps before leading the horses away. 

Father and Mirwa started for the house, Father’s limp easily noticeable from a distance as he made his way up the steps. Fathers ancient eyes fell on him like a physical weight and he did his best to straighten as he came nearer. Adelle shifted to give them space as Father bent and put a hand on the back of his neck as he pressed his forehead to his. “ _ Bless Eru, you are well. My heart may rest.”  _ He spoke in his quenya. 

He replied in kind, his own hand going to Father’s wrist, his fea glowing with relief as he felt his father’s reach out. “ _ Bless Eru, you have returned alive.”  _

Father smiled, a tired, drawn smile, and straightened. Mother stood slowly from her seat and moved to embrace him but he stepped back, holding up a hand as he spoke. “ _ I am not clean, my love.” _

“Ai, love. You know I don’t think that. Come, I’ll draw a bath.” She reached out and pressed a hand over his heart and Father’s eyes fluttered shut with a pained expression before he nodded in defeat and they both disappeared into the house.

“It is done. They are all dealt with. We can rest easy for a time.” Mirwa said curtly as she moved past them to bathe before going to find her family at her house. 

Adelle watched them with sad eyes as they silently disappeared into the house. “They seem… so weary.”

Cody nodded sadly. “Blood shed is a strain on one’s spirit, even blood shed to protect.” 

She was silent for a long minute before she put her hand on his arm, drawing his gaze to her. “I forgive you for Timothy.” 

He felt his chest constrict in a mixture a shock and shame even as he was hyper aware of her fingers on his skin. He had never expected, never even  _ hoped _ she would forgive him for killing her friend, but she was here, sitting next to him without fear, her large brown eyes looking at him earnestly as she extended her forgiveness for the unforgivable.

She gave him a small smile and turned her face to the sun, but he found himself still watching her. Watching the peaceful smile on her face as the sun glinted off of her hair, the settled way her hands rested in her lap, her expressive hands just as serene as her posture.

Oh gods help him. He loved her. Somehow, somewhere in the three years as he tried to help her heal, tried to make her feel welcome… somewhere in that time he had lost his heart to her and hadn’t even realized it.


	4. Chapter 4

Cody was….. different. In the time after the attack she noticed he watched her more, often looking away when she saw him, his ears reddening at being caught staring. It was… confusing to say the least. But not as confusing as the way he would flinch and then turn red when she absentmindedly touched his arm to get his attention or ask him to move. Mother seemed completely amused by the whole situation. She didn’t dare ask Fiadh what she thought.

The redhead had come haring back, her eyes wild and red and her horse exhausted and had thrown herself at Cody bodily, this time managing to knock him onto his back, where he lay with a longsuffering expression and a plea for Adelle to tell Mother that it was absolutely not his fault that the arrow wound through his side had come open. 

Fiadh had kissed Tobias and then turned around to escort Cody’s caravan to town, and when she returned, Fiadh and Tobias built a small house at the end of one of the small paths at the back of the big house. It was also a forge as well as a carving station for Fiadh, and if you wandered back there you were equally likely to come across them working silently on their respective crafts or in a compromising position… after twice in two weeks Adelle firmly refused to ‘go tell Fiadh’ anything, despite Mirwa’s desperate pleas that Fiadh  _ liked  _ her and wouldn’t throw a rock at her.

Cody still walked with her to the chapel as often as she wished, still waiting for her invitation before entering. She drummed up the nerve to ask him about it, and he had flushed and looked away. “It is your space. Like... “ He had rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “You know how my family and I can feel when we cross the wardstones? It’s like that. It’s your space, firmly yours, and I… I can feel it. I will not go into a space of yours without your consent.” 

She frowned. “But I've already invited you in, doesn’t that mean you’re welcome to join me?”

He looked at the sky in thought before answering. “If one day, you walked to Fiadh’s door and knocked, and she said come in, would that mean you would walk in without knocking from then on?” 

She blanched at the thought and nodded her understanding. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” 

“I have to be right about something, but you don’t have to apologize.” He chuckled. “Father says that even if someone says yes, you still have to ask again the next time, whether it’s to come into someone’s house, to borrow their tools, or for a kis-” He abruptly flushed. “One yes doesn’t mean yes forever.” 

She looked away and fought her own flush, knowing what he was about to say and immediately feeling silly at the thought of him asking for a kiss. Even if he did ask for some reason, she knew by now that he would wait for express permission. Just as he did before entering her chapel. But he showed no more inclination to kiss her than he did to his own sisters, he hadn’t even kissed her when he married her, it was utterly silly.

“What if-“ she cut herself off and bit her lip, chancing a glance at him. 

His gaze dropped before his ears turned red and he focused on her eyes earnestly. “What if what?”

“What if I said you didn’t have to wait outside? That you could come in whenever you wanted… until I said otherwise?”

“Then… I would come in with you, but I would check frequently that it was still alright, and immediately go back out when the permission was revoked.” He said, still looking flushed.

She smiled at him, hoping to put him at ease and put her arm through his. “I’m sorry,.we can stop talking about it if you are uncomfortable?”

He ran a hand over his face and let out a self deprecating laugh. “Ai, it is just that I had this explained to me by my father when I was a child, along with, uh, other important adolescent talks.” 

“Important adolescent talks?” She asked curiously. Was it an O’Donlin rite of passage like the first hunt?

He paled, then turned red again. “Good gods, I am not the person to be speaking to about this. Mother or even Father would- Ai, Eru.” 

She could help but laugh at how silly it looked for a man his size to be blushing and uncomfortable over something that seemed so mundane as respecting a person’s spaces. “Would you like to go back? We should be back in time to help prepare supper?” She asked lightly, offering a change of subject.

He gave her a relieved smile and nodded. “Alright. I think Mother wanted to make a pie tonight, and she despises peeling apples.” 

She laughed and enjoyed the rest of the walk back to the house, Cody quietly walking beside her with a small, content smile on his face as they walked.

They made it to the house just as Mother was setting out the ingredients for their dinner, Laoise and Sean, sitting on the floor as he taught her a game with stacking blocks. Del sat contentedly in the corner of the room with his spindle in his hands as he watched his grandchildren play. Mirwa and Muire were both carrying plates to the large table. Their husbands following with just as many plates and extra tablecloths under each arm. Fiadh was grinning at her in a near demented way as she pointed at a bowl of apples and paring knives set out, her own knife busy with dressing some meat.

Adelle didn’t ask but moved to pick up the bowl of apples, setting down in the nearest empty chair to begin peeling. Tobias was methodically slicing carrots, and gave Cody a grunt of greeting as Cody moved to fetch another knife.

It felt very familiar, like they had done this before, with fewer people, but… oh. Her first night here. She had peeled apples before she had run, overwhelmed by the giant fae and their casual intimacy, and the fears of what Le Diable Noir would expect from her. The black Devil, who was humming a child’s song under his breath as he helped prepare dinner for his family. The black devil, Cody, who never intruded on her spaces, and was gentle, and left gifts, and taught her to be brave, and wrote to her priest to build her a chapel, who took arrows and sword blows to protect his family. Cody, who loved sunlight and eating dandelions and liked to keep his black curls short so they didn’t rub his sensitive ears. 

She had almost lost him, the fae hunters almost took him from his family, from her. She watched as his hand reached for another apple, the scar on his arm still raised and fresh. He caught her eye, then studiously looked back at the apple in his hand, his ears coloring again. Coloring like Fiadh’s did when she looked at Tobias.

There was a snort somewhere behind her and she looked back to find everyone pointedly not looking at them, except for Beth, who was watching with a nostalgic, wistful smile.

But why would Cody-? Her mind ground to a halt. Cody had been blushing and looking away shyly from her ever since- but he couldn’t be- he never-

The afternoon’s conversation came back to her mind with such clarity her head spun. She suddenly realized why he had never once touched her in bed. While she had said ‘I do’ during the ceremony, she had never said it again. To him, he was not allowed, and he respected that. For almost four years, he had respected her lack of a yes, without ever once asking, because he had known that she would have said yes out of fear. However misplaced the fear might have been, she would have ‘done her duty’ and he had known, had never once asked because she could not answer in truth.

But how was he supposed to know that she did not fear him anymore? He never asked, was still cautious and generous, still quietly left gifts outside her door and moved slowly. As he was now, carefully reaching past her to pick up a peeled apple, and… She moved, as Fiadh had trained her to move at the first feeling of distress, pressing the edge of the paring knife to his cheek, but not hard enough to actually mark.

He froze, his black, bottomless eyes wide, his hands held out to his sides. He swallowed and whispered as the activity around them ground to a sudden, jarring halt. “May I ask what I did?”

No protests that he had not hurt her, no dismissing her reaction as being unfounded because he did not know how he had hurt her, no demands that she stop being silly. His hands remained out and away, his body tense and still, accepting her judgement. He could bat her hand away in an instant, but he would not. A flick of her wrist and his entire life was ruined, he would be shunned, even by his own family. She knew it as surely as the day. He accepted her judgement, and he was only asking so that he would know what never to do again. 

And…. and she loved him. Oh Lord, she loved him. Loved the solemn way he spoke, the small, self deprecating laughs, the way he smiled at her when he offered her a gift, the earnest way he checked on her to make sure she was alright. His utter gentleness with the children and… with her. She loved him. Loved everything about Cody O’Donlin. Loved La Diable Noir.

“Oh, you stupid, stupid man.” She breathed as she dropped the knife and stood on her chair to press her mouth to his. 

He inhaled sharply, his hands still held away from his body, not moving a muscle. “As- As nice, as this is,” He spoke against her lips. “And it is, very nice, but… are you still angry with me?” 

Sudden booming laughter sounded from Del’s corner, making her break off the kiss and hide her face in Cody’s neck, followed by Beth’s amused but firm, “Alright, everyone out. You two, pick a room. The only people getting frisky on the kitchen table is your father and I.” 

“Ai, Beth!” Del sounded exasperated even as he was still reining in his own laughter. “Alright, all of you heard your mother… out!”

Adelle felt her face burn with embarrassment, she had been so caught up with her epiphany that she had forgotten they had an audience. 

“Ai, Adelle. Are you alright?” Cody asked gently as she heard the sound of footsteps dutifully trooping out of the house. 

“You always ask me that. When you are bleeding, when I’ve had a knife to your face, when I’ve burst into tears or, or, you always ask me if I’m alright.” She shook her head at how stupid she had been… for four years. “And I am alright. I’m happy, and- and I think- I think if you asked me, I would say yes.”

Cody stiffened against her and she felt him inhale sharply. “A-ask you w-what?” His voice shook. 

“Anything. Everything. I-” She realized his hands were still held out away from his body even as she was pressed against his chest. “You can touch me.” 

The tension left Cody’s body with a loud exhale as his arms came up and around her and she felt as if… after all this time… she was finally where she belonged. “So… the knife?” He whispered into her hair, still sounding uncertain.

“Sorry. I had an emotional realization, and Fiadh made it a reflex.” She giggled before pulling back to look him in the face. “Cody O’Donlin, I believe I’m in love with you.”

His eyes widened and she thought he stopped breathing until suddenly he was stammering. “B-but y-you- I mean- h-how c-ca-?” She pressed her lips to his again and he fell silent, his eyes closing and a groan sounding deep in his chest. His mouth opened slightly and on instinct she nipped his bottom lip. He shuddered and broke the kiss, breathing heavily as he pressed his forehead to hers. “Why?” His voice was quiet and ragged.

“Because there was this giant half fae called the black devil who saved me on the streets, was willing to bind himself to a stranger to protect her, who spent four years trying to reassure her she was safe, and cared for, and- And he’s kind, and gentle, and blushes and despite being strong and protective, never, ever uses his strength for brutality,” She inhaled and looked into his dark eyes with as much earnestness as she could. “And if he wanted me, I would be happy to be his wife in earnest.” 

His arms tightened around her, then gentled instantly, his face slack with awe. “I want. Oh gods, I want, I- I was content being your friend. Being what you wanted me to be, but yes, I want you. I…” His face flushed but he looked at her in earnest solemness. “I love you.” 

Those words, it felt as if he had just given her the world… and he had. He was giving her his heart, his love, his life. He said so much in those achingly beautiful words. And she knew he meant every bit of it.

He inhaled softly and looked at her with wide, dark eyes. “May I kiss you?” she nodded and he pressed a kiss to her forehead, whispering in French. “I love you. May I kiss you?” She nodded again feeling the weight of all he was offering and he pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, whispering in his Gaelic. “I love you. May… I kiss you?” 

“Yes.” it was more an exhale than an answer, but he pressed a soft kiss to her mouth, whispering in his fae language that although she didn’t know, she knew exactly what he meant. “I love you.” 

He moaned and broke away before stepping back and breathing hard through his nose. “W-we don’t have to do anything… I- I will wait as long as you need or want.” He exhaled in a shuddering rush even as his skin was flushed and his hands curled into his shirt as if he was keeping himself from touching her.

Her needs. Alway worried about what she needed without thought or care of himself. Of his needs or wants. “I- It’s traditional for the husband to carry his wife over a threshold when they marry.” She lifted her chin with a new confidence she didn’t even know she possessed. “I think you should.” Perhaps the one spot he had never set foot in. “My room?” 

His eyes closed and he took a deep, shaky breath before he nodded and swiftly picked her up from the chair she still stood on. “Anything, and everything you want.” He whispered into her hair. 

He carried her as if she weighed nothing, but paused at her door, looking to her for permission. And she shook her head with a smile as she rose up to kiss his cheek. “You can come in.” His neck. “You can kiss me.” His chin. “You can touch me.” his lips, pulling back to whisper against his ear and feeling him shudder as her lips brushed it. “I will tell you if I want you to stop.” She whispered, something light and brilliant in her chest from the certainty that if she said stop, he would in a heartbeat. 

His grip on her tightened and he made a strangled growling noise before stepping into her room and nudging the door shut with his foot. He set her on the edge of the bed and stood over her, looking at her with wild, wide eyes before sinking to his knees on the floor in front of her. “I… I want, but I- I’m scared of hurting you. I’m scared I’ll-” He exhaled. “Tell me what to do. Tell me what you want and I will do it happily. Anything.” 

Anything. Everything. She remembered the way his skin had felt under her hands when she had tended to him, and blushed, imagining it while they kissed. “I... “ She almost didn’t speak, but he was looking at her with those eager, wide black eyes, begging her for instruction “Would you take your shirt off?” 

Instantly he moved, pulling his shirt over his head and setting it aside, his eyes never leaving hers as he obeyed. Her. Her breath caught at the sight of him, scarred and strong and beautiful, at the easy way in which he exposed himself to her, not hesitating to do as she asked, the way he waited for her. The way he still watched her, silent and still but his eyes threatened to drown her with the weight of their unspoken plea.

“Kiss me?” 

He moved forward on his knees so he was kneeling between her legs and his hand moved to cup her cheek as he pressed his lips to hers, gently, sweetly. She gasped and he stilled, but she only asked for her own permission. “May I touch you?”

“Yes, gods, yes, however, whenever you want.” He breathed, his hand on her cheek trembling.

She slid her hands up his arms, feeling the steel hard muscles trembling beneath her touch, the slight ridges of his scars, the smooth softness of his skin as she renewed their kiss. He moaned as she traced the point of his ear and she breathed the sound in. “I… I was only told to lie there and… take it.”

He stilled instantly, his body going rigid but she continued. “But I think that might be the wrong way now.” 

“Ai, it- it’s a sacred thing, meant- meant to be pleasurable for both.” He whispered earnestly, his ears flushing. Her eyes tracked the flush as it moved down to his chest. She reached out and pressed her hand flat against his chest and he gasped. “Oh Eru… you are… gods, you’re supposed to enjoy it… all of it.”

“What… what does this mean to you?” She asked, pressing the flat of her hand firmly against his chest. She could feel the beat of his heart beneath her fingers, and the way he shuddered… it meant something. She had seen Del shudder when Beth did it to him.

“It… my people… Ai.” He breathed, his heart pounding under her hand as he hesitantly reached up and laid his hand over her own heart. “Heart to heart. Mine to yours, yours to mine.” 

How… incredibly romantic. She looked at him, kneeling, half naked beneath her fingers, waiting on a breath of a command from her, to be allowed to… bring her pleasure, he had said. “I- want you to see me.” She lifted her chin to summon her courage. “Undress me. Please?” 

His eyes blew wide as his hand, trembling in restraint, moved to the ties of her dress, unlacing it gently, looking up at her for approval as he freed her from her dress. He rose up on his knees to carefully pull it over her head and then exhaled sharply as he stared at her as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips to the line of her collarbone exposed by her shift, his soft exhale of breath sending curls of pleasure down her spine and pulling a quiet whimper from her. She heard him murmur against her neck. “I would worship every inch of you to hear that sound, if you allow me.” 

“Yes, God, yes.” She felt a flutter in her belly at the words. “Finish- Finish undressing me?”

“As you wish.” He breathed, his hands carefully going to the hem of her shift to send it the same way as her dress. He actually stopped breathing when she was exposed to him, falling back to sit on his heels with a look of wonder. “Ai. I half fear I will wake up at any moment.” 

It did feel as if she was in a dream, a wonderful, heated dream. She reached out and ran her hands over his shoulders to touch, to remind herself that this was real. They were here together, and she loved him. He turned his head and pressed his lips to her wrist, and then leaned forward to kiss her shoulder, and then her lips. A dark, pleading look that she answered with a nod, digging her fingers into the muscle of his shoulders, and then he was kissing his way down her neck, murmuring soft praise as he touched the peak of her breast with his tongue. 

She gasped and pulled him closer at the thrill that raced through her at the sensation of his tongue and he gave her a shy smile before moving further down to the soft flesh over her ribs. Ribs that she could no longer count because of how he cared for her. She leaned back onto the bed, supporting herself with her elbows so she could watch as he licked and kissed his way over her belly, grazing the curve of her hip with his teeth in a way that sent dark coils of bliss through her core. He moved down her thigh, exhaling hotly against her knee before carefully gathering her legs up and putting them over his shoulders. 

“Alright?” His eyes were dark pools that threatened to drown her until she forgot her need to breathe.

She didn’t know what he meant to do, only that each touch sent sparks of pleasure through her body and that nothing hurt and he  _ loved _ her and everything was alright and she nodded, gasping as he kissed the inside of her thigh. And then again, higher, and then again, closer, until he was looking up at her from between her thighs, his black eyes heavy with desire and the skin of his shoulders hot beneath her calves. “May I?”

She nodded, a thread of apprehension weaving through her, but she nodded. His body shuddered beneath her legs but he didn’t strip, didn’t move to take her, instead he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her core. She keened at the contact and he pulled back, but she didn’t want him to. She pulled him closer with her legs, gasping. “A-again.  _ Please _ .” 

He made a soft growl in his chest and then opened his mouth over her and she fell back against the bed and drowned in the pleasure he wrung from her with his tongue as he tasted and kissed like he was trying to devour her. It felt like only seconds later and she arched and cried out as the heat in her belly tightened into ecstasy, and then fell limp against the bed, shuddering with the foreign, but wonderful sensations wracking her. She never knew it could feel like this. Cody pressed his face to the inside of her thigh, breathing heavily. 

“Gods, you’re beautiful.” His voice was a rasp as he seemed to try to catch his breath. 

Her legs felt like jelly as he gently moved them from his shoulders and sat back on his heels to look at her in awe. She shuddered again and tried to wrestle her mind into order. “W- what about you?” 

He looked at her intensely. “Only what you want, Adelle. I am happy to just… having you here.” 

Her needs, her wants. Never himself. He sat there, still clothed save his shirt and he didn’t care about his needs or wants. Needs she could see in the way he held himself, in his fathomless dark eyes. She moved her knees apart and tried to sit up to face him, feeling like he had loosened her spine with his tongue. “I- I want you. I want to try everything.” 

He inhaled sharply, his eyes trailing over her before he looked back up, swallowing hard before speaking. “Before- I- I’m half Eldar, Adelle. I can only- If you want this, it’s forever for me. There is no-one else, will never be anyone else for me. It’s how… fae are. You… I want you, but you have to be absolutely sure.” 

Four years they had been together, four years he had doted on her, cared for her, protected her and never touching her. She loved him. He loved her. She wanted, no,  _ needed _ him. She summoned every scrap of her courage, floating it on a cloud of bliss still clinging to her skin to breathe words that sounded raw but she couldn’t bring herself to care. ”I’m sure. Cody Astaldo O’Donlin, please come fuck me.” 

He made a shuddering cry and moved so quickly that she barely had time to notice he had moved until her legs were hitched around his hips as he knelt on the bed, his hands pulling her flush to him and his mouth on her shoulder. “You can’t- Can’t just  _ say _ that.” He panted, his fingers digging into the curve of her lower back in pin points of heat. “I can’t- stop if you- if you say that.” 

“I am Adella O’Donlin.” She murmured and kissed the muscle of his shoulder. “I do what I please.”

He groaned and she hesitated before worming her hand between them to pull at the laces of his trousers. “Gods, Adelle, you don’t-“ he gasped as her hand found him, and his grip on her tightened in interesting ways as she brushed against the hard line of him. 

“Off. I- Please?” She felt nervous and giddy. Everything she had heard said it would hurt, but maybe… maybe things were different, like he had said they should be. 

He nodded and reluctantly lifted her off of his legs so he could stand and peel his clothes off for her, his eyes watching her with a hungry intensity, waiting for her reaction. She felt her mouth go dry and her pulse speed at the sight of him, bare and beautiful, and… hers. She looked over him slowly, memorizing the beautiful lines of him before looking up at him. “How… how?” 

He flushed but moved to lay down on his back on the bed, guiding her with gentle touches to straddle his legs. “Like… that, it’s… it’s supposed to make it easier for you.” His flush darkened and traveled further down his chest as he swallowed. “You- you’re in control, no-nothing happens th-that you don’t want.” He was trembling, his whole body underneath her shook in what could only be desire, lust.

She glanced at his cock, wondering how it felt and looked up at his face shyly. “Can I touch it?” 

His head dropped back against her pillow with a whimper of need. “Y-yes. Anything.” 

She took him in hand and was immediately rewarded with another whimper and his body tensing as taut as a bowstring beneath her. God help her, he was beautiful. She experimented, finding what made him writhe and… oh. Beg. 

He was begging her to keep going, to not stop, the word ‘please’ dropping from his lips with every ragged breath, but he did not grab her, did not do anything more than place his hands on her thighs. “Ah-adelle, please. Gods, please.”

It was as soft and pleading as a song that caused the heat inside her to return with a vengeance, need driving her on as she slid her hands up his chest as she situated herself, bracing herself for the unknown as she carefully welcomed him inside her. It felt like when he had used his tongue on her, but deeper, more intense, and she gasped at the aching stretch of accepting him, pausing when it felt like she might drown in the heat curling through where they were joining. 

Cody trembled beneath her, his hands moving to twist into the blanket as his pleas took on a gasping, desperate quality. “A-adelle, I need- I have to-“ A final drop and she was flush to his hips. He was fully inside her. At the same instant she felt a buzz against her skin and Cody was sweating and gasping. “Trust me…  _ please _ .”

“Yes.” She whimpered and leaned forward to try and brace herself on his chest, the movement sending ripples of pleasure through her. “Yes!”

He growled, a low desperate sound deep in his chest as he lifted her up by the hips, the action pulling him from her partly in a cascade of sensation, only to drive back in with a cry of pleasure that she answered in kind. The buzzing against her skin seemed to drive deeper with every thrust that sent pleasure singing through her until it felt like she was being consumed by ecstasy that peaked suddenly in a bright feeling bursting in her chest… and she knew… somehow, she knew as she collapsed against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, that this was what he had meant. He had tied his soul to hers.

She floated in a sea of bliss, his chest hot against hers and his arms tight around her. Finally, he shuddered, his voice rough as he spoke. “How… how do you know my true name?”

“Mm. Fiadh told me. Said you would listen if I used it, but never to tell anyone else what it was.” She murmured sleepily against his skin. 

He huffed out something about ‘meddling witch sisters’ but she didn’t care to question him as she fell into blissful sleep.

  
  
  


Cody felt the call of sleep, every joint and muscle in his body humming in languid pleasure, but he kept himself awake, allowing himself to look down at the tousled crown of braids resting on his chest, letting himself feel the precious weight of her, lax with peace atop him. He could feel the bond thrumming quietly in his chest, and it was everything he’d been told it would be… only more than he ever could have imagined. Gods, this was what Father felt with mother. Ailbhe. Mirwa. Fiadh.

He knew with every fiber of his being that if anything were to happen to her he wouldn’t be able to continue on, it would be as if someone ripped his fea apart. 

This was the last thing he had expected after she had put her blade to his face. His heart had dropped at the contact, fearing that he had somehow erred, had somehow caused her some deep hurt without realizing, and then she had kissed him, the blade clattering forgotten to the floor while he had wrestled to keep his desire for her in check and to understand what had happened. To go from the heartbreak of having the woman he loved, however suppressed, be ready to cast him out, to lying here… bonded. It was almost too much to grasp. 

But it had happened and gods, Eru. He was so grateful it had. Now she was here with him, his wife and bonded in every sense.

Adelle shifted on top of him and lifted her head, her mouth slightly open as she looked at him before she smiled shyly. “Hello. Not a dream then.” 

He smiled back and kissed her forehead. “No… not a dream.”

She made a luxurious sounding groan as she stretched on top of him. “It didn’t hurt.” She sounded slightly disbelieving, but all he felt was relief. 

He smiled. “Grandmother said it’s not supposed to if you do things right.”

She pondered that before flushing. “Is that what you meant by ‘adolescent talks’?” 

He felt his ears heat in a blush and shivered as she reached up and traced the point of one of them. “Yeeeeah. Um. Consent, advice, general, uh… instructions, and a very awkward but sincere talk with Father about the consequences of an Eldar bonding.” He sighed in remembered embarrassment. “It was a very, very long afternoon.” 

She laughed and his heart soared at the sound, it was unrestrained and confident and beautiful. Before she straightened, her face going pale. “Oh Lord! Do you think they heard?!”

He laughed. “I… hope not. I’m sure there was a reason why Mother shooed everyone out of the house. But. Um. if you… want, only if you want, I can… build us our own place? We don’t have to if you-” 

She reached up and put her finger over his mouth. “What do you want?”

He kissed her finger and she blushed. “I want you to be happy. I want to be allowed to see your smile, to hear your laugh. I... I want to be permitted to hear you make that beautiful sound when something feels good. I want you to wake up knowing that… that you are my friend and that I love you.”

She had sat up slowly as he spoke, her lips parted as she gazed at him with awe in her eyes. “Lord give me strength, you will be the death of me with a tongue like that.” Her eyes took on a slightly glassy look as she murmured. “And what a tongue.” Before she shook her head as if trying to focus “I would be quite happy to have our own house together. I… I’d still be allowed to come up here, though, won’t I?”

He reached up to place a hand on her face. “Of course. You are Adelle O’Donlin. You do as you please.” She blushed but smiled. “We’re all allowed to come and go from the main house, stay for the night or drop by for dinner. We’re... Family.” 

She smiled and pushed him back claiming his lips in a kiss that made his whole being shiver. And he couldn’t fathom how he had ever existed without her.

There was a sharp knock on the door and Muire called out. “Get some pants on and get out here or we’re eating without you.”

Cody groaned and dropped his head against the pillows just as Adelle called out. “Was it straws or a coin flip?”

“Lost a bet. Now get moving.” Muire’s voice said from further away from the door.

  
  


Within four months Adelle was pregnant and Cody had nearly finished their home, with the help of his father and a few hires. He had built it back near her chapel so that she could visit it whenever she wanted, and she confessed she preferred to pray each morning when she could. He looked forward to spending the mornings together in peaceful silence. 

Adelle seemed to bloom overnight, walking with her chin up and a confident tilt to her shoulders as she learned to use a sword and taught the children to speak French. She had perfected the art of smiling at him in a way that made his knees go weak, and he was never happier than when he was kneeling in front of her and drawing those beautiful sounds from her.

Though he was getting a little tired of Father banging his fist on the door as he walked past. It only strengthened his resolve to finish their home. 

When it was completed he spent every moment he could with her making up for the four years they should have had. She gave birth to their son, and named him Damien, much to Cody’s everlasting mortified amusement, but she had been so adamant he had given in, as he always did when she asked for anything. Loaise and Damien became absolutely inseparable from the moment she laid eyes on him and declared him ‘her brother’. 

He never did get around to explaining to her the significance of his true name, part of him secretly glad he hadn’t. She kept it secret, as Fiadh had asked her to, and she really didn’t need another way to bring him to his knees to her. Her smile and a crook of her finger was enough for that. 

Mother got to see four more grand children before the end. Father, to everyone’s grief but no-one's surprise just... disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared. The Wedding Dagger was set aside and would be passed down, as would their story, through the years. Never dulling, sharp, and beautiful as it ever was.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Please drop a kudos and a comment if you enjoyed this read and would like to see more <3


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